Written Ministerial Statement by Steve Reed (MHCLG) issued the same day as the report. Government welcomes the review and commits to implementing two of Rycroft's 17 recommendations immediately: a GBP100,000-per-year cap on overseas elector donations and a moratorium on cryptoasset donations, both via amendments to the Representation of the People Bill.
25 March 2026
Recommendation 1
UK Government (Electoral Commission)
response_pending
There should be an annual cap on political donations from British voters living abroad.
Recommendation 2
UK Government
response_pending
The corporate donation test in the Representation of the People Bill should be amended to one based on post-tax profits, and no corporate donor should be able to donate more than their post-tax profits into UK politics in any given year.
Recommendation 3
UK Government
response_pending
The Government should legislate in the Representation of the People Bill to introduce a moratorium on political donations made in cryptoassets.
Recommendation 4
UK Government
response_pending
Non-party campaigner and candidate campaign spending should come from permissible donors and reporting and transparency requirements should apply to these groups year-round.
Recommendation 5
UK Government
response_pending
'Know your donor' provisions in the Representation of the People Bill should be further developed to more closely mirror the customer due diligence provisions in the anti-money laundering regulations.
Recommendation 6
Electoral Commission / Ethics and Integrity Commission
response_pending
The Electoral Commission should work with political parties and the Ethics and Integrity Commission to develop a non-statutory code of conduct to ensure that robust procedures are in place within parties to equip party officials better to deal with the threat of foreign financial interference.
Recommendation 7
Electoral Commission
response_pending
The Electoral Commission should mandate political parties to submit their annual reports and accounts and campaign spending returns in a standardised format.
Recommendation 8
Electoral Commission
response_pending
The Electoral Commission should coordinate with Government, the security services and the police to ensure that political parties receive regular updates on the threat landscape, so that they have a comprehensive and up-to-date picture of the risks around foreign financial interference.
Recommendation 9
UK Government
response_pending
The information-sharing powers of the Electoral Commission should be extended, so that it can not only share information with other agencies, but also require information of them.
Recommendation 10
UK Government
response_pending
The powers of the Electoral Commission should be extended to allow it to require information from any person or organisation who may hold relevant material that it reasonably requires for the purposes of carrying out its functions.
Recommendation 11
UK Government / Home Office
response_pending
The Government, as part of the forthcoming reform of police structures, should ensure the creation and resourcing of a centre of police excellence to pursue the investigation of complex criminal offences under electoral law involving foreign interference in UK politics.
Recommendation 12
UK Government
response_pending
The Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act 2000 should be amended to reduce the burden of proof for criminal offences to show that an offender might have 'reasonable cause to suspect' that they were committing a crime and the sentencing associated with each criminal offence under the Act should be reviewed, to ensure it matches the seriousness of the offences.
Recommendation 13
UK Government (Cabinet Office / DSIT / Home Office)
response_pending
Dealing with hostile state online interference should be a far higher priority for Government. There should be clear lead accountability at ministerial and senior official level for leading the work to combat foreign online political interference, with resources commensurate to the challenge this poses to our democracy.
Recommendation 14
UK Government
response_pending
The Government should further tighten the regulation of online political advertising by banning foreign-funded adverts outright and ensuring that imprints include who has paid for them.
Recommendation 15
UK Government
response_pending
The Lobbying Act should be amended to remove the VAT exemption for all foreign-based entities which would otherwise fall under the provisions of the Act.
Recommendation 16
Ethics and Integrity Commission
response_pending
Consideration should be given to broadening the scope of the Ethics and Integrity Commission's review into lobbying, disclosure and access to government so that it also examines potential channels for foreign money to flow into the wider political eco-system.
Recommendation 17
Cabinet Secretary
response_pending
Given the on-going challenge to the integrity of our democracy, the Cabinet Secretary should give a clear signal of the priority to be afforded to this agenda by allocating to a Permanent Secretary lead responsibility for sustaining our democracy and coordinating the response to the threats to it.
No recommendations with this response.