← All donations
Money the regulator caught · Returned donations
Impermissible donations to UK parties
166 declared donations totalling £486,915 were ruled impermissible under UK law and either returned to the donor or forfeited to the Consolidated Fund. The most common reason is that the donor was not registered on a UK electoral roll at the time of giving. The list runs from honest administrative slips to instances where the recipient party accepted untraceable direct bank transfers and could not verify the source before the deadline.
By reason
| Reason | Donations | Total |
|---|---|---|
| Impermissible (no reason given) | 69 | £208,565 |
| Donor not on UK electoral register | 68 | £140,642 |
| Other | 13 | £69,699 |
| Direct bank transfer · permissibility not verifiable | 7 | £30,500 |
| Address not verifiable | 4 | £28,459 |
| Donor resident outside the UK | 3 | £3,300 |
| Donation from charity | 1 | £4,500 |
| Company not actively trading | 1 | £1,250 |
Recipients caught accepting impermissible most often
| # | Recipient | Donations | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Liberal Democrats | 49 | £86,018 |
| 2 | Conservative and Unionist Party | 39 | £179,466 |
| 3 | Reform UK | 32 | £110,859 |
| 4 | British National Party [De-registered 08/01/16] | 9 | £3,343 |
| 5 | Green Party | 4 | £14,993 |
| 6 | Women's Equality Party [De-registered 31/12/24] | 4 | £6,957 |
| 7 | UK Independence Party (UKIP) | 3 | £8,000 |
| 8 | Scottish National Party (SNP) | 2 | £3,000 |
| 9 | Momentum Campaign (Services) Ltd | 2 | £3,500 |
| 10 | Best for Britain Limited | 1 | £25,000 |
| 11 | Right to Vote | 1 | £10,000 |
| 12 | The Blair Must Go Party [De-registered 29/05/07] | 1 | £8,200 |
| 13 | The Respect Party [De-registered 18/08/16] | 1 | £4,636 |
| 14 | One Leicester | 1 | £4,000 |
| 15 | Mr Andrew Mitchell MP | 1 | £4,000 |
| 16 | Workers Party of Britain | 1 | £2,000 |
| 17 | Robert Jenrick MP | 1 | £1,499 |
| 18 | The Rt Hon Edward Miliband MP | 1 | £1,480 |
| 19 | Shaun Bailey | 1 | £1,250 |
| 20 | The Rt Hon Matthew Hancock MP | 1 | £1,000 |
| 21 | Ms Angela Rayner MP | 1 | £1,000 |
| 22 | Campaign Together Limited | 1 | £1,000 |
| 23 | Mr Kenneth Livingstone | 1 | £1,000 |
| 24 | The Rt Hon Alan Johnson MP | 1 | £1,000 |
| 25 | Labour Party | 1 | £900 |
Largest impermissible donations
| Donor | Recipient | Returned | Amount | Reason |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ms Joanna Kate Fleming - originally reported: RF Trustee Co Ltd | Conservative and Unionist Party | 2010-08-17 | £100,000 | Impermissible |
| Sir Clive Cowdery | Best for Britain Limited | — | £25,000 | When the cash donation from Sir Clive was originally accepted he and we noted that he had been registered to vote for some time and had no reason to believe he was not still registered. However, we subsequently discovered that his registration had lapsed w |
| Alexander Frank MacDonald | Reform UK | 2024-08-12 | £25,000 | A direct bank transfer, hence name and details was not known for a while and details received, permissibility failed as the donor was not on the electoral register. The donation had to be refunded. |
| Dudley Port & Ocker Hill Primrose League | Conservative and Unionist Party | 2010-05-25 | £23,281 | Impermissible |
| Inshmore Properties Ltd | Liberal Democrats | 2019-12-04 | £16,000 | Unable to confirm donor was an actively trading company |
| The British Council | Green Party | 2004-03-15 | £12,643 | Impermissible |
| Tandis Jenhudson | Reform UK | 2024-12-13 | £10,000 | donor was not eligible to donate. Address not known |
| Philip Gibbs | Reform UK | 2024-07-22 | £10,000 | This was a direct bank transfer to the bank account. We had no details of the donor to carry out a permissibility check. We were n ot able to refund the donation in the 30-day period because the bank account was frozen by the bank for their "compliance" ch |
| David McGowan | Reform UK | 2024-12-23 | £10,000 | Donor is not eligible to donate and ives in Germany. Address not known |
| Joseph Machale | Reform UK | 2024-07-22 | £10,000 | Donor made a direct bank transfer to our bank account and we had no detail who the donor was and what address. As a result we could not perform a permissibility check and had to refund him. However, our bank account was frozen by the bank for 2 weeks |
| Hugh Macpherson Cameron Fraser | Right to Vote | 2019-03-15 | £10,000 | Donor is not on UK electoral register |
| Simon Martin | Liberal Democrats | 2019-10-13 | £9,000 | donor fell off of the Register whilst moving house |
| Mr Jimmy Walter | The Blair Must Go Party [De-registered 29/05/07] | 2005-05-23 | £8,200 | Impermissible |
| George Morrison | Reform UK | 2021-01-04 | £7,459 | inability to verify the donor's address |
| Miss R E Finey | Liberal Democrats | 2005-09-04 | £6,380 | Impermissible |
| Mr Roger Fletcher | Conservative and Unionist Party | 2007-11-16 | £5,900 | Impermissible |
| Clive Mason | Reform UK | 2025-11-26 | £5,000 | donor was not registered to vote at the time of donation |
| Gregs Properties Ltd | Conservative and Unionist Party | 2005-10-19 | £5,000 | Impermissible |
| Richard Cleary | UK Independence Party (UKIP) | 2018-12-03 | £5,000 | Unable to confirm inclusion on an electoral register. |
| Ian Watson | Reform UK | 2024-07-22 | £5,000 | Donor made a direct bank transfer to our bank account and we had no detail who the donor was and what address. As a result we could not perform a permissibility check and had to refund him. However, our bank account was frozen by the bank for 2 weeks |
| Jonathan Regis Amouyal | Conservative and Unionist Party | 2024-05-12 | £5,000 | The individual was not on the electoral roll and was returned within 30 days. |
| Michael Nicholson | Liberal Democrats | 2017-05-02 | £5,000 | Not on Uk Electoral Register |
| Kwasi Kwarteng | Conservative and Unionist Party | 2024-08-08 | £5,000 | The association accepted this donation believing that as an MP he would be on the register. They reported it to the central party late (which is why this was not picked up in a timely manner) and we attempted to gain clarification on Mr Kwarteng’s address |
| James Preston | Liberal Democrats | 2017-05-02 | £5,000 | Not on Uk Electoral Register |
| Khansaheb Civil Engineering | The Respect Party [De-registered 18/08/16] | 2007-01-23 | £4,636 | Impermissible |
| A Daneza | Conservative and Unionist Party | — | £4,500 | Not on electoral register at time |
| University of Essex | Liberal Democrats | — | £4,500 | This is a donation from a charity, therefore impermissible |
| Andrew Dixon | Liberal Democrats | 2017-11-15 | £4,200 | Returned due to impermissible donation |
| Mr Keith Vaz | One Leicester | 2024-07-29 | £4,000 | Donation was sent in error - it was returned immediately. The party did not accept it. |
| Mrs Nancy Broadbent | Mr Andrew Mitchell MP | 2007-11-15 | £4,000 | Impermissible |
| Eve Ensler | Women's Equality Party [De-registered 31/12/24] | 2015-12-22 | £3,357 | Impermissible donor - donor not registered on an electoral register. |
| James Greenbury | Conservative and Unionist Party | 2021-01-08 | £3,000 | Not registered |
| Gilbey Strub | Women's Equality Party [De-registered 31/12/24] | 2015-11-26 | £2,500 | Impermissible donor, at the time the donation was received the donor was not registered on the electoral register. |
| B Martin | Reform UK | 2024-07-22 | £2,500 | A direct bank transfer donation. We did not get any details of the full name and address of the donor. We could not refund the donation in the 30-day period because our bank account was frozen for their "compliance" checks. We refunded as soon as the bank |
| Mihir Magudia | Liberal Democrats | 2018-06-17 | £2,500 | Not permissible due to moving house and no longer being on electoral register |
| Mr Mohammed R Nabi | Conservative and Unionist Party | 2010-02-19 | £2,500 | Impermissible |
| Zhenze Yang | Conservative and Unionist Party | 2019-12-24 | £2,310 | Not on electoral register |
| Mr Doug Ward | Conservative and Unionist Party | 2010-06-06 | £2,025 | Impermissible |
| Adam Smith | Liberal Democrats | 2020-01-10 | £2,000 | donor was not on the Electoral Register |
| Ken Le Grande | Reform UK | 2024-08-05 | £2,000 | donor not found on the electoral register at the address given by him and he did not respond to requests to provide a different address |
| Tung Lam | Scottish National Party (SNP) | 2017-10-16 | £2,000 | Individual not on the electoral register |
| K M Cubitt | UK Independence Party (UKIP) | 2017-06-29 | £2,000 | Informed not on the electoral register |
| Wayne Hennessy-Barrett | Reform UK | 2025-02-10 | £2,000 | Impermissible donor. Lives in Jersey and he is not registered to vote in the UK. |
| Mark Bedingham | Liberal Democrats | 2017-05-03 | £2,000 | Not on Uk Electoral Register |
| Colin Phillips | Conservative and Unionist Party | 2005-06-10 | £2,000 | Impermissible |
| abdulaziz alhakim | Workers Party of Britain | 2024-07-22 | £2,000 | Could not confirm they were a registered voter |
| Paul Shea | Conservative and Unionist Party | 2006-08-12 | £2,000 | Impermissible |
| Philip Lee | Momentum Campaign (Services) Ltd | 2020-04-26 | £1,750 | Not on the electoral register |
| Emma Lee | Momentum Campaign (Services) Ltd | 2020-04-26 | £1,750 | Not on the electoral register |
| Niharika Aram | Liberal Democrats | 2017-05-06 | £1,500 | Not on Uk Electoral Register |
Source: Electoral Commission donations register, impermissibility_reason field. A donation is impermissible if it comes from a source UK law disallows: most commonly someone not on a UK electoral roll, an overseas donor outside the small-donations exception, a non-trading company, or a charity. Recipients have 30 days to verify and return; failure can mean the money is forfeited to the Consolidated Fund.