The UK must close loopholes in its political donations rules in order to block foreign influence in British politics, an election watchdog has said.
John Pullinger, the chairman of the Electoral Commission, the UK’s independent elections agency, said there are not enough safeguards in place for the British public to have confidence that “unlawful” foreign money is not influencing UK politics.
In an article for The Telegraph, Pullinger wrote: “For over two decades, there have been laws in place to restrict who can donate to political parties.”
“But, does existing electoral law do enough to safeguard from unlawful foreign money, or to protect public confidence in the political finance regime? To put it bluntly, no.”…