Labour Party chair Anna Turley has asked the UK Electoral Commission to investigate whether Reform UK leader Nigel Farage broke electoral law by failing to declare gifts and support he received before becoming an MP in 2024. This was reported by Qazaqyia.kz citing The Guardian.
In her letter, Turley cites a Sunday Times investigation which found that Farage received gifts and benefits from crypto entrepreneur George Cottrell, who has a previous fraud conviction, between the second half of 2023 and the 2024 general election. The value of these gifts exceeded the £500 threshold for checking permissibility and the £2,230 threshold for reporting donations to the Electoral Commission.
Turley argues that during this period, Farage was a member of Reform UK, its honorary president, and, as the party was a private limited company, the owner of the majority of its shares. He was highly active as a campaigner, speaking at the Reform UK conference on 8 October 2023, posting regularly in support of the party on X (formerly Twitter), and producing political videos funded by Cottrell that strongly supported Reform UK.
In a statement, Turley said: "Serious allegations of rule breaking are already being assessed by the Parliamentary authorities. It is now abundantly clear that Mr Farage may have not only broken parliamentary rules, he may have broken the law. Farage can't brazenly brush this off as being 'none of your business' any longer. He needs to own his self-inflicted scandal and prove he's not been secretly breaking the rules and taking the British public for fools."
Earlier, Farage angrily berated a Sky News cameraman who filmed him at an airport upon his return from the US, accusing the channel of harassing his family. Sky News denies the claim.
US President Donald Trump has voiced support for Farage, posting on his Truth Social platform.
Today's agenda includes: Reform UK deputy leader Richard Tice participating in a Q&A at the Institute for Government; Kemi Badenoch giving a speech on defence; Wes Streeting hosting an LBC phone-in; Lord Robertson and General Sir Richard Barrons giving evidence to the Commons defence committee; Ed Miliband taking questions in the Commons; and Keir Starmer arriving at the NATO summit in Turkey.