Democracy and Money · Civil Liberties Action · Published 10 October 2026
Reform’s disclosed non-public donations rose by £15.71m between 2024 and 2025. Two corroborated gifts from Christopher Harborne account for £12 million of that rise—76.4%. Removing those gifts still leaves an increase of £3.71m.
That is a useful question to ask of every party: how much did the total change, and what remains if we remove the later year’s largest funder from both years? A headline total can conceal very different patterns underneath.
Start with the change, then examine its source
For the Conservatives, £3,000,000.00 recorded under Jeremy Elliott San’s donor ID offset part of a much larger decline elsewhere. Removing that ID from both years makes the fall £17,999,924.58, compared with £14,999,924.58 in the complete disclosed total.
Labour’s largest 2025 group in this treatment is Unite the Union’s recorded ID. Its contribution fell by £594,473.08. That explains only a small part of Labour’s total £28,467,262.16 decline. The interactive view shows the other contributions to the change.
The earlier year included the 2024 general election. Changes between an election year and the following year are not, by themselves, a measure of political popularity, campaign capacity or future fundraising.
Check every figure
The table shows the six party registrations with the largest disclosed non-public totals in 2025, using the same selection rule throughout. It includes bequests and non-cash support. The full download covers every registration with a 2025 non-public record.
| Party | 2024 | 2025 | Change | Largest 2025 ID/group | That group’s change | Change without that group |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Reform UK | £2,995,660.00 | £18,706,061.85 | +£15,710,401.85 | Christopher Harborne — corroborated 2025 records | +£12,000,000.00 | +£3,710,401.85 |
| Conservative and Unionist Party | £29,008,994.03 | £14,009,069.45 | -£14,999,924.58 | Jeremy Elliott San | +£3,000,000.00 | -£17,999,924.58 |
| Labour Party | £37,452,678.72 | £8,985,416.56 | -£28,467,262.16 | Unite the Union | -£594,473.08 | -£27,872,789.08 |
| Liberal Democrats | £9,793,087.11 | £5,036,761.52 | -£4,756,325.59 | TREEMAN ROCKAFELLA LIMITED | +£100,000.00 | -£4,856,325.59 |
| Co-operative Party | £1,107,399.00 | £933,661.00 | -£173,738.00 | Co-operative Group Ltd | +£5,532.00 | -£179,270.00 |
| Your Party | £0.00 | £670,067.82 | +£670,067.82 | MOU Operations Ltd | +£600,000.00 | +£70,067.82 |
A zero is an absence of matching records in this dataset, not proof of zero income. MOU Operations is recorded as a company donor to Your Party; its entries do not identify every original contributor behind the transferred funds.
Identity checks change the answer
Reform’s £9 million and £3 million Harborne gifts have different donor IDs. Treating them separately gives a largest-ID share of 48.1% of its 2025 non-public disclosures. Joining only the two corroborated records gives 64.2%. We preserve both views and the evidence for the join.
That does not mean every similar name can be merged. Our first twelve profiles distinguish reviewed company identities, a narrowly corroborated individual link, original-ID histories and an unresolved company-number discrepancy. The remaining records retain their original IDs. This is a bounded treatment, not a complete map of actual people or ultimate funders.
Inspect the two Harborne records and matching evidence.
Donation value is not always fresh cash
A separate reconciliation illustrates why the form of support matters. Thirty-three Tisun entries, labelled Cash in the donation register and totalling £613,000, match thirty-three loan conversions by participant, date and the frequencies of their amounts. Reform’s accounts describe the same £613,000 loan release. This is financial support through debt conversion, not an additional £613,000 cash payment in 2025.
The entries remain in disclosed-donation totals. We do not add the loan figures again. Repeated amounts prevent unique loan-to-donation pairings, so the finding is an aggregate reconciliation. It is a targeted case, not a completed review of all party loans.
Explore the form of support and its source records.
Method and limits
We subtract each party’s 2024 disclosed non-public total from its 2025 total. We identify the largest 2025 group by value, then subtract that same group’s change from the party’s overall change. Calculations use integer pence, accepted dates and the 9 October 2026 snapshot. Public Funds are excluded. Reviewed record links are applied only within their documented scope; otherwise the original donor ID is used.
Disclosures do not include all funding below reporting thresholds. Central accounts and party-wide donation records have different boundaries. Unresolved donor identities can change the interpretation of concentration and donor histories. Our snapshot’s 2025 total differs from the original Commission release; the documented reconciliation remains incomplete. None of these calculations establishes improper influence or legal non-compliance.
These findings have received internal source and arithmetic checks, including a separate recomputation from the data. They have not received independent external review. We make no claim that this is the first publication to discuss these donations.
Publisher disclosure
CLA’s founder is a member of the Labour Party. As at 10 October 2026, CLA has received no money or material support from anyone other than its founder. These are declarations supplied by the founder. Read the dated declaration and editorial standards.
Sources and corrections
- Dated, address-free Electoral Commission dataset; each exported record links to its original register entry.
- Reviewed identity evidence and bounded record lists.
- Release comparisons and Tisun accounts/loan/donation reconciliation.
- Electoral Commission: identity and disclosure limitations.
Challenge a figure or send a correction. Material changes will be dated and explained. Read the publication standards and review status.
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