Communities Secretary Steve Reed has announced amendments to the Representation of the People Bill that will cap political donations from overseas voters at £100,000 in their first year in the UK, tighten rules on company giving, and require candidates to declare donations before they officially enter a race. The Bill returns to the House of Commons on 14 July.

The overseas-donor cap builds on measures announced in March: a £100,000 annual ceiling on donations from British citizens living abroad, backdated to 25 March 2026. The new proposals add a residency condition — foreign donors moving to the UK must live here for a specified minimum period before they can donate above that limit. Reed set out the package in a formal letter to parliamentary party representatives on 25 March, ahead of the government publishing its full response to the Rycroft Review the following day.

The company-giving rules are the most technically detailed part of the package. Under the proposals, donations from companies would now be assessed against their actual profits over the previous five years, not their total revenue. This is a tighter threshold — a company making losses or working on slim margins, however large its turnover, would be barred from donating at maximum levels. Candidates would also have to declare any donations above £2,230 they receive before formally becoming candidates, closing a reporting gap that currently exists.

The Rycroft Review

Philip Rycroft — a former senior civil servant — was commissioned in December 2025 to conduct an independent review of foreign financial influence in UK politics, in response to concerns about hostile-state meddling in British democracy. The government published its response to his report on 26 March 2026. The cryptocurrency ban announced in March is part of the same package, having been legislated alongside the overseas-elector cap.

The Electoral Commission published its own response to the Rycroft Review on 30 June 2026, focusing on improvements to political finance oversight to address foreign interference. The regulator's separate response suggests it views the current framework as insufficient, independently of what Parliament passes.

The Reform UK context

The policy timing intersects with recent donor patterns. Christopher Harborne, a Thailand-based billionaire, gave £12m to Reform UK during 2025 — including a single £9m donation, the largest ever made to a UK party by a living individual — and another £3m in January 2026. Crypto billionaire Ben Delo donated £4m to Reform between January and March 2026. Both are British citizens. Under the proposed overseas-elector cap, such donations from individuals resident abroad would be prohibited in future.

Nigel Farage faced accusations from rival parties in April 2026 of breaking parliamentary rules by failing to declare a cryptocurrency donation — applying separate pressure on the party's financial transparency. The crypto ban now embedded in the Rycroft response directly addresses that channel.

Transparency International has separately called for a £10,000-per-donor annual cap — considerably tighter than the £100,000 ceiling the government has chosen — alongside stricter declaration rules and tighter constraints on corporate giving.

What to watch for 14 July

The Commons debate on 14 July is the moment to observe how the residency-condition provision is written. The minimum period an overseas voter must spend in the UK before exceeding the cap is the critical detail: too short and the measure becomes easy to circumvent; too long and it risks legal challenge on the grounds of unfairness to British nationals with legitimate lives across borders.

The corporate profits test will draw scrutiny from those with business-donor interests, since five-year post-tax profit averaging can produce unexpected results for cyclical industries or companies with heavy capital costs. The pre-candidacy declaration threshold of £2,230 mirrors existing campaign thresholds and is unlikely to face serious challenge, but it does push compliance obligations earlier — something party compliance teams will need to prepare for well ahead of the 2029 general election.

The Rycroft package amounts to the most substantial change to political finance law since the Electoral Administration Act 2006. How durable it proves will depend partly on how the residency condition withstands parliamentary scrutiny and, eventually, legal challenge.