UK closes foreign donation loophole, mandates pre-candidacy disclosure for all candidates

Communities Secretary Steve Reed announced sweeping political finance reforms on 7 July 2026, introducing a £100,000 cap on donations from overseas nationals within their first year of UK voter registration and requiring all candidates—not just elected MPs—to disclose contributions above £2,230 before candidacy. The government will also tighten corporate donor verification. The package arrives as the parliamentary standards commissioner investigates undisclosed benefits received by Nigel Farage from a political aide with a wire fraud conviction, exposing gaps the new rules would close.