How the super-rich are buying UK democracy

Our new video series shows how British politics is bought and sold – and what can be done about it

The idea that money buys influence in British politics is hardly new. Lloyd George was selling peerages a century ago. ‘Cash for access’ scandals long predate the digital age.

But the sums involved today are on a different scale.

When I first started reporting on dark money almost a decade ago, £50,000 could buy access to the ‘Leader’s Group’ of top Tory donors.

Today, Britain’s wealthiest political donors give many times that. Cryptocurrency billionaire Christopher Harborne even gave Nigel Farage a £5 million ‘personal gift’.

At the last general election, in 2024, political parties and politicians received a record £123m in donations.

More importantly, an increasing share of political money is concentrated among a relatively small number of mega-donors. Academic research has found that the relationship between campaign spending and votes has become increasingly strong.

So what happens when British democracy becomes increasingly dependent on a handful of very wealthy people?

That’s the question behind Going, Going, Almost Gone: How the Super-Rich are Buying UK Democracy, a new three-part video series from Democracy for Sale and Transparency International.

I present the series, which features interviews with some of the sharpest commentators on money and politics, including Oliver Bullough, Faiza Shaheen, Cat Neilan, Duncan Hames and Susan Hawley.

Each episode is around ten minutes long - the first is out today, with the second and third following next Monday and Thursday. Across the three, we look at who is pouring big money into British politics, what influence it buys, what it does to public trust, and what could be done to change the system, from donation caps to a stronger Electoral Commission.

The timing matters: the Representation of the People Bill is due to return to Parliament soon, creating a fresh opportunity to address the role of big money in British politics.

YouGov polling found that just 13% of people think individuals should be allowed to donate as much as they wish to political parties. Support for a donations cap extends across party lines, including among Reform voters.

There is a mechanism to make that happen. Labour MP Stella Creasy has tabled an amendment to the bill proposing a £100,000 cap.

Yet Labour HQ has stayed conspicuously quiet. Union outriders have been warning backbenchers off supporting Creasy’s amendment - even though Philip Rycroft, who led the independent review into foreign interference in UK politics, has said Parliament should consider capping all individual donations.

The government has already accepted the principle that political donations should have limits: it is introducing a £100,000 cap on donations from Britons abroad.

Andy Burnham now has a chance to put that principle into practice for everyone, whether they’re a billionaire in the Bahamas or Basingstoke.

Earlier this year he said: ‘I do think there should be a cap on political donations.’ But that was before Burnham declared almost £350,000 in donations in the months before becoming Labour leader and prime minister.

Burnham has put restoring trust in British politics at the heart of his political message. If he really means it, a cap on political donations would be a good place to start.

Watch the first episode of Going, Going, Almost Gone at the top of this email - and episode two drops Monday on Democracy for Sale’s YouTube channel.

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We partnered on this video with Transparency International UK, the UK’s leading anti-corruption organisation. You can subscribe to both their newsletter and ours here.