Labour asks Electoral Commission to investigate Reform UK over donations | Reform UK

The Electoral Commission has been asked to investigate whether Reform UK has broken donations rules, after the Guardian revealed that the convicted fraudster George Cottrell transferred more than $2m to his mother in the days before her donations to the party in 2024.

Labour’s new chair, Bridget Phillipson, wrote to the commission on Thursday asking for it to examine the donations and whether they had been recorded correctly.

The commission has already made a referral to the Metropolitan police, who are looking into whether Reform may have been concealing or disguising donations derived from an “impermissible” donor.

The Guardian has since reported that Cottrell’s mother, Fiona Cottrell, received several tranches of money adding up to more than $2m, which she attributed to her son, according to financial industry sources. Her son is a close ally and adviser to Nigel Farage.

Transfers were then made either directly to Reform or via Britain Means Business, a fundraising vehicle for the political party, according to sources.

In her letter, Phillipson said the Guardian’s new revelations “may be relevant to the question of whether the true source of political donations made to Reform UK has been correctly identified and whether the statutory requirements governing permissible donors have been complied with”.

At a press conference on Thursday, Reform’s economics spokesperson, Robert Jenrick, said the story “has been going on for a long time”, but he did not engage with the substance of the allegations.

He told the BBC: “We are entirely confident that Reform followed all electoral rules at the time when the donations were made. Of course, we’ll participate with any inquiries. To the best of my knowledge, we haven’t even been contacted by the police, so I don’t think we have anything more to add to that.”

Jenrick suggested that journalists should be questioning George Cottrell, and he said they should return to the intended subject matter of the press conference, which was social care. “Reform is certain that all the electoral rules were followed,” he told ITV. “If you’ve got a question for Mr Cotrrell then I think you have to direct that to him.”

The Met’s investigation is examining donations to Reform, including those from Britain Means Business, a fundraising vehicle whose director is the party’s deputy leader, Richard Tice. The firm gave Reform two donations of £250,000 in the run-up to the 2024 general election. These were first revealed by the Guardian.

Cottrell, who was convicted for fraud in the US, now lives in Montenegro but is seen often alongside Farage. He has previously been described as Farage’s chief of staff but Reform UK has maintained that he is only a volunteer.

Asked about the transfers, lawyers for Cottrell said their client had no further comment.

In previous legal correspondence, Cottrell has not denied giving his mother – who is understood to be of relatively modest means – large sums of money. Instead, he said via lawyers that “any political donations his mother has made have been entirely her own decision, and are a matter for her”.

Fiona Cottrell has not responded to several attempts by the Guardian to contact her.

Asked on Wednesday for a response to the story, a Reform spokesperson said: “Reform takes pride in its stringent vetting of donations and always ensures that the Electoral Commission guidelines on donations, as set out in the Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act 2000, are strictly followed, as has been the case with all donations.”

Farage is fighting a byelection after resigning his seat of Clacton. All other mainstream parties have declined to stand a candidate against him, though there are 34 independents on the ballot paper, including novelty candidates such as Count Binface.