Louise Haigh has promised to fight those who think Britain's democracy is up for sale amid a major row over Reform's £72million donations mega-haul. Andy Burnham's second-in-command also blasted Nigel Farage for accepting a £5million gift from a crypto billionaire - and later speaking openly about stripping away workers' rights.
Her intervention at the Trades Union Congress (TUC) conference comes after two separate donations to Reform of £36million from crypto tycoons Christopher Harborne and Ben Delo electrified the debate over money in British politics.
Haigh's warning to vested interests
Addressing delegates in Brighton, Ms Haigh said: "But every single day, in government we are campaigning against the vested interests, the forces trying to stop progress. Against the unaccountable crypto billionaires - living thousands of miles away - who think our democracy is up for sale."
"Against the politicians who pretend to be on the side of workers but pocket millions in undeclared donations and speak openly about their plans to strip working people of the very protections they rely on."
Ms Haigh, who was standing in at the TUC for the Prime Minister following the death of his father, said Mr Burnham was sorry he could not address the conference for the first time as Labour leader. She said: "It's at times like these that you want to be surrounded by the people closest to you. And that's one of the reasons why I know Andy is so sorry he couldn't be here today, with his, with our, Labour family. Because the Prime Minister understands that the strength of our movement is drawn from our roots in the trade unions."
Union statement on Reform donations
Earlier union general secretaries met behind-the-scenes at the TUC conference to thrash out an emergency statement on Reform's record donations. They did not go as far as a demand for a cap on individual donors, but the statement said: "We will continue to work with policymakers to clean up our politics and strengthen public trust in our democratic system. We expect our Government to protect our democracy from being captured by the super-rich."
It added: "We cannot afford to see the Americanisation of our politics, with out of control political spending, funded by stratospheric sums of crypto and corporate cash. These donations show clearly whose side Reform are on, with crypto billionaires, foreign and powerful corporate interests lining up to pour in eye-watering sums of money to advance their agendas."
"Trade union funding is the cleanest money in politics. Union donations are made up of the collective subscriptions of care workers, teaching assistants, shop workers and millions of trade union members, democratically controlled and heavily regulated. Working people deserve - and need - a meaningful stake in how Britain is run."
Farage's threat and possible residency checks
Their statement followed a threat from Nigel Farage, who said he would retaliate by cutting off Labour's union funding if Reform ever wins power. In an article for The Telegraph, he said: "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 is something we would be prepared to do."
It also emerged today that Reform crypto-billionaire backers could face tougher checks to demonstrate their continued presence in the UK. Ministers have already taken steps to introduce a £100,000 ceiling on the sum of money that can be donated to political parties by anyone living abroad, which would also be enforced for the first 12 months after British expats come back to the UK.
The changes would be backdated to March, prompting questions about whether Reform can retain the twin £36million contributions from Mr Delo, who was living in Hong Kong until recently, and Mr Harborne, who was living in Thailand. The government is now looking at strengthening proposed legislation by introducing an "enhanced" residency test requiring donors to demonstrate they have lived in the UK for a certain period, with details to be set out shortly.
Downing Street denied the proposed checks were a bid to prevent Reform UK specifically from using the £72million it received. Asked on Tuesday if it was, the Prime Minister's official spokesman said: "No, I completely reject that." No 10 insisted the plans were to ensure people who contribute vast sums to political parties have a stake in the UK. "There are multiple precedents under successive administrations, particularly to address the risk of people taking action immediately to avoid the new rules," the spokesman said.
