4th Report - Representation of the People Bill

We reiterate this committee’s longstanding view that the creation of criminal offences by way of secondary legislation is constitutionally unacceptable. 16 The Government has not provided any justification for the ability to create criminal law in the regulation-making powers in clauses 13 and 20.

Furthermore, regulations under clause 20 (and presumably any criminal offences or financial penalties created, disapplied or altered by them) may apply only to “individuals of a specified description”. As the regulation- making power appears to allow for divergence from the principle that the law should apply equally to all, 17 it affords inadequate opportunity for scrutiny of—and consideration of justifications for proposed departures from—this core principle. The Government should explain why this power is necessary. In the absence of adequate justification for departing from this core principle, the House should consider removing the power. Donations of cryptoassets and from overseas contributors

Clauses 61 and 62 amend the Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act 2000 to limit the ability of political parties to accept donations in the form of cryptoassets, and to set an annual cap of £100,000 on donations from overseas contributors, respectively.

Clauses 61 and 62 will both have retrospective effect. They will apply to donations received on or after 25 March 2026. The Explanatory Notes to the Bill state that “this was the date on which the Secretary of State announced this policy in Parliament and outlined the intent for it to apply retrospectively”. 18

This announcement was made in an oral statement to the House of Commons by the then Secretary of State, Rt Hon Steve Reed MP, following the publication earlier that day of the Rycroft Review into countering foreign financial influence and interference in UK politics. The Rycroft Review recommended that “there should be an annual cap on political donations from British voters living abroad” (and suggested that this should be set initially in a range from £100,000 to £300,000 per donor per year), and that “the government should legislate in the Representation of the People Bill to introduce a moratorium on political donations made in cryptoassets”. 19

In this statement, the then Secretary of State said: “We will introduce an amendment to the Representation of the People Bill to place an annual cap on the total political donations that an overseas elector can make. The cap will be set at £100,000 a year. In the light of the gravity of the issues raised in the [Rycroft] report, I am not prepared to allow any window of opportunity in which malign actors based overseas can funnel dark money into our politics. The cap will therefore apply retrospectively, so it will include all donations from overseas electors received from today and all regulated transactions entered into from today … We will introduce an amendment to the Representation of the People Bill to place a moratorium on all political donations made through cryptocurrency … Subject to parliamentary approval, the moratorium will be applied retrospectively to any crypto donations received from today by any political parties and regulated entities.” 20

Government amendments to this effect were subsequently tabled at report stage in the House of Commons.

The Bill will create criminal sanctions relating to the failure to return donations prohibited by clauses 61 and 62 within a 30-day period. Receipt of a prohibited donation between 25 March 2026 and the commencement of the Bill will not, of itself, give rise to criminal liability. However, the failure to return such a donation within the specified period following commencement of the provisions may constitute a criminal offence. The Government states that these sanctions will not have retrospective effects: “liability will only arise where appropriate action is not taken” by the recipient of the prohibited donation before the end of the 30-day period after commencement. 21 Criminal liability will therefore only result from conduct which follows commencement of the provisions.

It has been our consistent view that retrospective legislation is unacceptable other than in very exceptional circumstances. We have stressed that, when used, measures with retrospective effect must have the strongest possible justification and be drawn as narrowly as possible . 22 The Government argues that retrospective application of the restrictions on donations in the form of cryptoassets and the cap on donations from overseas contributors is necessary to prevent evasion of the new rules during the period between the announcement of the changes and commencement of the Bill’s relevant provisions. 23 We note that the provisions will not give rise to retrospective criminal sanctions relating to a donation or receipt of donations prior to commencement. However, a policy announcement does not, and cannot, change the law. We therefore conclude that the retrospective application of these measures to the date of the Secretary of State’s announcement on 25 March 2026 has not been sufficiently justified and would set an unwelcome precedent. Possible further measures

During the second reading debate, Baroness Taylor of Stevenage stated: “In addition to introducing a robust regime that ensures that donors contributing above the £100,000 annual cap must demonstrate a genuine and ongoing connection to the United Kingdom, we are considering how we will strengthen the residency requirements, including ensuring that the length of time spent in the UK aligns with broader government policy.” 24

To enable effective scrutiny of the Bill we invite the Government to provide further information on how it intends to strengthen the residency requirements for political donations. 1 HC Deb, 2 September 2026, col 415 (Rt Hon Angela Rayner MP, Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government) 2 Elections Act 2022, section 16 . A statement was published by the previous Government in 2024: see Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities and Electoral Commission, Policy Paper: Electoral Commission strategy and policy statement , 29 February 2024. 3 Elections Act 2022, section 16 4 Constitution Committee, Elections Bill (13th Report, Session 2021–22, HL Paper 164), para 39. See also Electoral Commission, Letter from Commissioners: Strategy and Policy Statement measures in the Elections Bill , 21 February 2022. 5 Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, Representation of the People Bill: Memorandum from the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government to the Delegated powers and Regulatory Reform Committee , September 2026, para 91 6 Clause 13(3) 7 Clause 13(4)(d) 8 Clause 13(6) 9 Clause 13(7) 10 Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, Representation of the People Bill: Memorandum from the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government to the Delegated powers and Regulatory Reform Committee , September 2026, para 91 11 Clause 22(1) 12 Clause 22(3)(b) and (c), and 22(5) 13 Clause 22(3) 14 Clause 22(4) 15 Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, Representation of the People Bill: Memorandum from the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government to the Delegated Powers and Regulatory Reform Committee , September 2026, paras 108–117 16 See Constitution Committee, The legislative process: the delegation of powers (16th Report, Session 2017–19, HL Paper 225), para 50. 17 See Constitution Committee, The rule of law: holding the line against tyranny and anarchy (13th Report, Session 2024–26, HL Paper 211), para 15. 18 Explanatory Notes to the Representation of the People Bill [Bill 47 (2026–27)-EN], para 623 19 Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, Independent report—The Rycroft Review: Report of the independent review into countering foreign financial influence and interference in UK politics , 25 March 2026, HC 1787, recommendations 1 and 3, and para 54 20 HC Deb, 25 March 2026, cols 304–05 21 Representation of the People Bill, European Convention on Human Rights Memorandum , para 88. 22 Constitution Committee, Legislative standards of the Constitution Committee: 2017–2024 , 6 May 2025, paras 77–78 23 HL Deb, 14 September 2026, col 1056 (Baroness Taylor of Stevenage) 24 HL Deb, 14 September 2026, col 974 < Back Next > © Parliamentary copyright 2026 A-Z index Glossary Contact us Freedom of Information Jobs Using this website Copyright Privacy notice Cookie policy Cookie Manager House of Lords - Representation of the People Bill - Select Committee on the Constitution Accessibility Email alerts RSS feeds Contact us Home Parliamentary business MPs, Lords & offices About Parliament Get involved Visiting Education House of Commons House of Lords What's on Bills & legislation Committees Publications & records Parliament TV News Topics You are here: Parliament home page > Parliamentary business > Publications and Records > Committee Publications > All Select Committee Publications > Lords Select Committees > Constitution > Constitution Representation of the People Bill Contents