2 private donations of £36m each to one political party - is this the future of democracy in a world at the mercy of tech bros?

[IwantToRetire]

Not particularly interested in discussing Reform. As anyone who wants to do that could set up a thread just like there is one about the Greens.

Of course the money could just be frittered away, but do these donations create an imbalance in terms of other parties having a voice, not just now, but when there is the next General Election.

For info (and there may be others) short bios about each man who has donated. Although, if as stated, they don't expect to decide party policy, maybe their personal history doesn't matter.

https://news.sky.com/story/ben-delo-and-christopher-harborne-who-are-reform-uks-two-mega-donors-13584792

Edited to add: I would ask this question if such donations had been made to any other Party, whether Labour, Tory, Greens etc..

These people are driving out success. It’s costing us more. The petty lack of insight and emotional lack of regulation is too much.

@Pineneedlesincarpet I would have much less objection to donation from a UK business. In 2025, the Phoenix Partnership gave the Conservatives over £15M. I don't think it is ideal, but everyone knows that traditionally the Tories have looked after business interests - so it is hardly a surprise.

Harborne has evidently possessed an Asian nexus for years, I have no idea about Delo.

Sawiris, Mittal, Fredriksen, Platt, Angermayer, Rokos.

Otherwise 10,800 millionnaires left the UK in 2024 alone.

How much would you be happy for a uk business to donate?

@Pineneedlesincarpet given I think the entire political system needs an overhaul and we should not have an adversarial two party system or first past the post voting, I'm going to say nothing. However, I am a realist and recognise that since the WW1, Labour has largely been funded by the Unions to represent the working man and the Tories have largely been funded by businesses to represent business interests. It is a deeply flawed system, but as @EasternStandard's expert from the Bank of England said, we shall most probably keep muddling along.

However, I keep coming back to wonder what interests the funders of Reform represent.

He’s not ‘my expert’ I’m pretty sure he exists in his own right. Muddling along version means higher debt payments, something will have to give.

This will prove a sure-fire winner with pensioners….

The Business Secretary refused four times to rule out retirees paying tax on the state pension from next year.

Jonathan Reynolds declined to reassure pensioners that they would not pay income tax on the benefit for the first time, saying it was a question for the Chancellor.

The comments on Tuesday raised concern for millions of retired people expecting to see their state pension surpass £13,000 from April, forcing them to pay income tax.

UK employers cut jobs, vacancies declined and private sector wage growth remained subdued over the summer, according to official data that could ease Bank of England policymakers’ concerns over high inflation becoming entrenched in the economy.

Payroll employment in the three months to July fell by 39,000, or 0.1 per cent, from the previous quarter, the Office for National Statistics said on Tuesday. The drop left payroll employment down 84,000, or 0.3 per cent, from the same period in 2025.
FT

The slow death of the UK economy due to jobs taxes, business rates and regulations. Only when that is reversed will that change. Sooner rather than later the overall tax take will fall to its lowest as economic activity dries up, people and companies stop investing. Next will be capital gains hikes with no indexation - again slowing the incentive to take risk when the only winner will be the person who doesn't work and the government takes the lions share with no risk attached….

Speaking as a tax paying pensioner I don’t care. You can’t pay tax on what you haven’t got. They should get rid of the triple lock while they’re at it.

So pleased you said that, Blossom. Ain’t fiscal drag wonderful?

Not sure every pensioner will agree with you though.

Meanwhile, for all the hate the Triple Lock gets, £13k a year is a poverty wage in 2026. People bickering over the dispersion of breadcrumbs shows the state the country is in….

It isn't "breadcrumbs" when it comes to other benefits though. UC for a single person is way less than that (approx £5K), but people want to see that slashed.

So you would not want the triple lock scrapped, then, like the PP suggested?

I wonder how many are considering the possibility of a backdated exit tax and acting accordingly.

Am on the fence as I can see both sides of the argument. I remember when the State Pension was utterly pitiful and many pensioners lived in poverty. We shouldn't go back to that.

I shall resist the temptation to deploy the laughing emoji because I could have guessed your reply…

What do you mean? I am not a pensioner myself so currently have no skin in the game. I can genuinely see both sides.

Ah but the PP does have skin in said game because they are a pensioner, and even they don’t want the triple lock.

I wonder how many agree with the PP, hence my Q.

I think it’s terrible that pensioners going over the basic allowance don’t pay tax just disgraceful.
Special dispensations across the board are ruining this country
im a pensioner -I suspect it’s because millions of pensioners would have to do an online tax return which they won’t have a clue about but it means they can continue to raise pensions higher above the allowance if they allow this -so unfair

@Smokeywater if you have a personal or occupational pension that takes you above the tax threshold, then you pay tax. It will be deducted at source by the pension provider in the same way as PAYE

Currently the state pension is just under the tax threshold. If the triple lock is applied at the next pension increase, then for the first time it will go just above the current tax threshold, meaning that a tiny amount of tax would be payable on it. The only pensioners currently not paying tax are those who are only receiving the state pension.

Yes, but YoY, fiscal drag will see pensioners paying increasing levels of tax. If you rely solely on the state pension, that will prove painful, in a high inflation environment.

@Greyrock79 don't disagree with anything you have said there.

Reform's leader in Wales has just had to stand down due to allegations of assault.

Nice people.

Indeed!

Nathan Gill, Reform's previous leader in Wales is serving 10 years in prison for accepting bribes from Russia to ask planted questions when he was a UKIP MEP.

Yes. Corruption and violence.

Allegations, you say?

How would you feel if your DC or your DP was judged before trial?