Trade unions are set to launch an intervention on Tuesday on political donations after the head of Britain’s trade union movement, Paul Nowak, said the government must act to “stop the super-rich corrupting our politics.”
Union leaders met on Monday to discuss possible support for a domestic cap on donations. Discussions are expected to continue but sources said general secretaries were likely to back strong words calling for further action on political donations from wealthy individuals – but arguing that trade union members should be treated as individual donors giving small amounts.
Union leaders had been split on the prospect of limiting domestic donations to political parties, with many including the GMB fearing it would lead a future rightwing government to curb union donations.
Labour-affiliated unions are working on a statement on political donations that is expected to be put before the TUC general council on Tuesday, the Guardian understands. But union sources said there were “significant differences” between general secretaries on how to proceed.
Related: ‘Party for sale’? Reform’s £72m donation causes backlash – podcast
Many of the trade unions that are not affiliated to Labour are keen to go further on limits – but would themselves not be affected by measures that could curb party donations.
On Sunday, Unite’s general secretary, Sharon Graham, broke ranks and backed a limit, after two crypto billionaires, Christopher Harborne and Ben Delo, donated £72m to Reform UK within 24 hours.
Asked about the possibility of an overall cap on donations, Gary Smith, the general secretary of the GMB, said “we’ll work that through” but added that amendments to the representation of the people bill, aimed at enacting a limit, “felt ill-thought-through”.
However, Mike Clancy, the general secretary of Prospect, which is not affiliated to Labour, said the government should be doing more on political donations. “The government’s going to have to step in here. Citizens have noticed this. This is buying and distorting democracy, and in a way that ultimately will impact working people adversely,” he said.
In his annual address to the TUC conference in Brighton, Nowak, the general secretary of the Trades Union Congress, said the donations were “a crisis for our democracy”.
“Tell me, why is it that two crypto billionaires have donated £72m to Reform in just two days?” he said. “The evidence is clear: Reform UK is a party for sale. Nigel Farage is a politician for sale. And given half the chance, they’d sell our country down the river.
Related: How could Reform UK spend its £72m of new billionaire donations?
“Make no mistake, this is a crisis for our democracy. We cannot allow our political system to be captured by corporate interests.”
He said there was no similarity “between care workers chipping in a few quid a year through their union and a party bought and paid for by billionaires”.
“We need a proper conversation about how we clean up our politics that doesn’t push workers to the margins – but does stop the super-rich corrupting our politics,” he added.
Nowak said no donations at all should be allowed from those who did not live and pay taxes in Britain. A bill currently before parliament would limit donations from overseas British donors to £100,000. He said the government must also go further on foreign funding for political ads. “Elon Musk, keep your grubby hands out of British politics,” he said.
Smith said that despite qualms about a donations cap it was clear that the government had to “clean up the money going into politics”.
But he said he was concerned about trade union funding being caught in the crossfire. “Care workers, school, support staff, energy workers, they need a political voice. And they deserve a stake in the country, in politics, and we do that through pennies that our members donate to a political fund, some of which we use to support the Labour party.
“So our money’s clean, it’s declared, it’s transparent. People know where it comes from, and we’re unequivocal and unashamed about advancing the interests of our members.”
Joanne Thomas, the general secretary of Usdaw, said union donations were “the cleanest money in politics”, adding: “We must make sure we reflect the difference between our donations and other donations.”
Thomas also urged the government to look again at election spending limits, as a way to help level the playing field.
The bill currently in the House of Lords puts significant limitations on overseas donors, including for a calendar year after they return to the UK.
Reform’s deputy leader, Richard Tice, said that while he was completely confident Reform had complied with all current and proposed laws on donations, he could not say when Delo returned to the UK from Hong Kong, or how much time the Thailand-based Harborne spent in Britain.
The two separate donations of £36m by Harborne and Delo are unprecedented in UK political history and will give Reform enormously boosted resources before the next election.
Delo was based in Hong Kong but has returned to the UK. Asked when, Tice said it was “many, many months ago”. Harborne is registered to vote in the UK but also lives in Thailand.
The former Conservative prime minister Boris Johnson said on Monday that he thought the retrospective nature of the cap was “pathetic” and unfair.
“Just because some people want to support one party very generously, Labour kicks up a huge fuss and says they’re going to cap donations,” he told GB News. “I think the next election is going to be fought on the shape of the British economy and on British society and the government that has the most credible [plan] and I think it’s the Conservatives.”
But he said he questioned the motives of Reform’s donors. “The problem with Reform … whatever the motives of these guys, these crypto kings, in funding Reform with squillions. I wonder whether they want Reform to be pro-crypto,” he said. “Reform is weak on welfare, and I think weak on the economy.”
