Political party donations and loans in Northern Ireland
Who can you accept donations and loans from?
Overseas voters: advice on proposed changes to the law
The UK Government has announced that it plans to introduce a £100,000 annual cap on donations and loans from overseas voters. The Government’s intention is for this to apply retrospectively to any donations received or loans entered into from 25 March 2026 onwards. These measures would be introduced as part of the Government’s Representation of the People Bill.
The cap would apply to all donations and loans made by an overseas voter, not just those to a single recipient. This means that an overseas voter could not make more than a total of £100,000 in donations and loans to any regulated entities in a calendar year. Donations and loans to Northern Ireland-registered parties from Irish citizens would not be affected.
The Government’s intention is to apply this to donations to parties; non-party campaigners; elected office holders; party members and members associations; recall petition and referendum campaigners; and candidates (subject to legislative consent in Scotland and Wales).
Once the proposed changes to the law come into force, recipients would have 30 days to return any donations received or end any loans entered into on or after 25 March 2026 which exceed the £100,000 annual cap.
No changes have yet been made to the law. Our guidance continues to reflect the law as it currently stands. However, you may wish to consider taking action now so that you are prepared for any future changes to the law, including:
- Identifying and recording which donations and loans have been made by overseas voters. Overseas voters are identified on the electoral register. If you do not have access to the electoral register, you may wish to seek this information from donors when checking they are permissible.
- Checking registers of reported donations and loans to identify whether any overseas donor may have donated or lent more than £100,000 in each calendar year
- Ensuring you have up to date contact details for overseas donors, so you can contact them to seek any declarations required
- Ensuring that you retain sufficient resources to return donations or end loans from overseas voters if required
This advice is provisional, based on the information that is currently available about these proposals. We will update this advice note once the Government publishes additional information. For further information, please see this ministerial written statement or contact MHCLG.
A registered Northern Ireland political party can accept donations from and enter into loans with the following permissible sources:
- an individual registered on a UK electoral register, including overseas electors and those leaving bequests
- an Irish citizen, including those leaving bequests
- a UK-registered company which is incorporated in the UK and carries on business in the UK
- an Irish-registered company which is incorporated in the EU, and has an office in Ireland or Northern Ireland from which the carrying out of one or more of its principal activities is directed
- a UK-registered or Irish-registered political party
- a UK-registered or Irish-registered trade union
- a UK-registered or Irish-registered building society
- a UK-registered limited liability partnership which carries on business in the UK
- an Irish-registered limited liability partnership that has an office in Ireland or Northern Ireland from which the carrying out of one or more of its principal activities is directed
- a UK-registered or Irish-registered friendly, industrial or provident society
- a UK-based unincorporated association that carries on the majority of its business or other activities in the UK
- an Irish based unincorporated association that carries on the majority of its business or other activities in Ireland and has its main office in Ireland
You can also accept donations, but not loans, from certain types of trusts, certain public funds and from anyone who is paying for the reasonable costs of a visit outside the UK.
Although you can legally accept donations from charities as long as they are also permissible donors, charities are not usually allowed to make political donations under charity law. If you know that a donor is a charity, you should make sure that they get advice from the Charity Commission for Northern Ireland (or other charity regulator, as appropriate) before they make the donation.