Farage Would Stop Unions Funding Labour If Reform Forced To Hand Back Crypto Cash

A Reform UK government could stop trade unions giving money to the Labour Party, Nigel Farage has warned.

He said he would be prepared to take the drastic step if the government forces Reform to hand back £72 million it has received from two crypto billionaired.

Ben Delo and Christopher Harborne gave the party £36m each at the weekend.

Delo has moved back to the UK from Hong Kong, while Thailand-based Harborne is now registered to vote in Hampshire.

But ministers want to toughen up a new law going through parliament so that donors previously based overseas must prove they are committed to living in the UK long-term.

If Delo and Harborne fall foul of the new rules, the cash they have given Reform would need to be repaid.

Writing in the Telegraph, Farage said he would look to retaliate by ending the unions’ historic funding of the Labour Party if he becomes prime minister.

He said: “The Unite union alone has given the Labour party over £50m over the course of the last few years. They’ve got the Employment Rights Act, not to mention big pay rises for bus drivers. If anybody is giving money to do political bidding, it’s the trade unions.

“So I would just warn the Labour party here and now: If you try and ban our donors, we in government would certainly ban funding from the trade unions. I don’t want to go down that route. But it’s something we would be prepared to do.

“Once again, let me be clear. Neither Ben Delo nor Christopher Harborne will be getting membership of the House of Lords. They won’t be getting favours, they won’t be influencing policy. It isn’t happening. Because unlike the uniparty we are not for sale.”

Business secretary Jonathan Reynolds hit back by insisting trade union donations are different to those from billionaires.

He said: “When we talk about union donations, that is not one entity. That is tens of thousands of ordinary people choosing to make that donation, and it’s banded up and given from the union. But it’s very easy to opt out of that.

“I honestly think to take these kind of mega, ultra crypto Reform donors and compare them to voluntary associations of working people choosing to give some money to the political system, I don’t think the two things are comparable.”

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