As Transparency International's @duncanhames.bsky.social says “the public have right to know who was fast-tracked [to VIP Lane] and on whose say-so. "Five years of resisting disclosure has been a prolonged and unnecessary failure of transparency, and it has only deepened the damage to public trust"

Incredible. Student List are candidates selected by groups of students to form an anti-corruption party. Another youth-led movement overthrowing an authoritarian government in Europe.

Europe Elects@europeelects.bsky.social · 2w ago

Serbia: The Serbian Progressive Party (SNS-EPP) has admitted defeat in today's parliamentary elections. The Student List (SL-*) has won a majority of votes. #Serbia #Srbija #Izbori2026

Nearly half a billion dollars spent this election cycle by the world’s richest man. We should take back control of our democracy before the billionaires do the same here.

Bloomberg News@bloomberg.com · 2w ago

With a fresh infusion of cash to his super political action committee in the first two weeks of October, Musk has now given more than $445 million in the current election cycle and becomes one of the biggest-ever contributors to such groups

I'm incredibly proud of the work my team @transparencyuk.bsky.social do exposing corruption and money laundering here in the UK, and the gaps in the response. That's why we're always striving to tell this story better. Watch this short film for the lowdown on our latest report:

Transparency International UK@transparencyuk.bsky.social · 2w ago

🆕 VIDEO More than £2.2bn of suspicious wealth has been invested in Britain’s new-build homes. But developers have no legal duty to check who’s buying or where the money comes from. Who’s really buying Britain’s new-build homes? Watch ⤵️ www.youtube.com/watch?v=t44J...

NEW: Our latest research exposes how off-plan sales risk letting dirty money buy-up new-build properties. Read all about it in newspapers from the Daily Telegraph to the Morning Star...

More than £2.2bn of ‘suspicious wealth’ invested in new-build properties, research shows

MORE than £2.2 billion of “suspicious wealth” has been invested in new-build homes and developments in England and Scotland, new research by Transparency International UK (TI-UK) has revealed.The campaign group found 708 — more than a third — of the roughly 2,000 suspect property purchases it has identified since 2016 involve newly built dwellings or development sites. It called for developers to be brought under money-laundering rules as it publishes its findings in a report, Concerning Developments, today.

morningstaronline.co.uk

Further revelations from the Cyprus Confidential project point to the role of professionals, including falsely backdating paperwork, in hiding assets and avoiding tax.

Rob Davies@byrobdavies.bsky.social · 3w ago

Latest in a three-year-long seam of reporting by the Guardian, The Bureau of Investigative Journalism, the BBC and international media partners. The project, known as Cyprus Confidential, was co-led by the ICIJ and Paper-Trail Media, based on documents first shared by Distributed Denial of Secrets.

Abramovich denied any knowledge of or involvement in “unlawful backdating,” concealing assets, or evading tax, and said, through his lawyers, that he relied on professional advisers, including Deloitte.

Deloitte accused of faking paperwork to hide Roman Abramovich wealth

Big Four giant Deloitte and its spin-off are alleged to have falsified corporate paperwork to protect former Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich's assets

cityam.com

Who gets access to government and has the most influence? Next Thursday, hear Stuart Sterling, Baroness (Dianne) Hayter, @duncanhames.bsky.social, @suehawley.bsky.social and @jrgerlis.bsky.social, with David Coen, discuss lobbying. Sign up for this in-person event 👉️ www.ucl.ac.uk/social-histo....

We can't wait... to see more money coming in, before we act:

Transparency International UK@transparencyuk.bsky.social · last mo.

💷IT'S TIME TO END MEGA DONATIONS In 2015, just 1% of private donations came from contributions of more than £1m. Ten years later? That surged to 35%. We spoke with @stellacreasy.bsky.social about why stopping big money in UK politics has never been more urgent. Watch below ⤵️

📺WATCH NOW Last week at Labour Conference, we partnered with @thefabians.bsky.social to discuss how big money is corrupting UK politics. Watch to hear from @duncanhames.bsky.social, Neal Lawson at @compassoffice.bsky.social, @stellacreasy.bsky.social & Baroness Margaret Hodge. More ⤵

Whose Democracy Is It Anyway? | Labour Conference 2026

YouTube video by Transparency International UK

youtube.com

📆TODAY | 3PM | THE BLUECOAT Big money is corrupting UK politics. But it doesn't have to be this way. Join us and @thefabians.bsky.social to hear from Neal Lawson at @compassoffice.bsky.social, @stellacreasy.bsky.social, @duncanhames.bsky.social & Baroness Hodge. Details in comments below ⤵️

🚨Louise Haigh agrees that mega donors with outsized influence are pernicious to democracy Yesterday at @ippr.org, Harry Quilter-Pinner rightly pointed out that big money corrupts UK politics regardless of where the money comes from. It's time for the Government to cap donations. Watch below ⤵️

The more progress the police make in acting on illicit wealth here, the more important it is to overcome the obstacles to returning proceeds of corruption to the people who lost out in the first place. Our new film explains:

Transparency International UK@transparencyuk.bsky.social · last mo.

🎬RETURNING STOLEN MONEY Millions of pounds of assets linked to corruption has been seized & recovered by UK authorities - so why hasn't it been returned to its victims? Our new research, Closing the Loop, identifies £64m of seized assets stuck in a policy grey area. Watch to learn more ⤵️

If you will be at the Labour Party conference next week, please do come and join Dame Margaret Hodge, Neal Lawson, Stella Creasy MP @stellacreasy.bsky.social, the @thefabians.bsky.social and me for this topical discussion: whose democract is it anyway?

Transparency International UK@transparencyuk.bsky.social · last mo.

📆LABOUR CONFERENCE Politics is broken: just 4% of the public trust MPs to act in the UK's interest. With mega donations at record highs, it's no surprise why. Join us & The Fabians to hear from Duncan Hames Stella Creasy Baroness Hodge & Neal Lawson from Compass. 📍28 Sep | 3pm | The Bluecoat

🔴 NEW: Rules were tightened after Scottish Limited Partnerships were exploited for financial crime. But Moscow firms and a man accused of facilitating child sex abuse are still selling them for your “financial privacy”. Our latest: https://www.theferret.scot/p/a36c9a0d-fcd4-4a95-93bf-5281f6323518/

Cry if you want to, it’s their party now:

UK politics increasingly funded by billionaires as mega-donations surge

Exclusive: A total £179m has been donated by wealthy individuals since 2019, research reveals

theguardian.com

No-one should be allowed to give this much money to any political party - now, next year, or ever.

Transparency International UK@transparencyuk.bsky.social · 2mo ago

🗣️"This feels rather like shutting the gate after the horse has bolted". @duncanhames.bsky.social spoke with John Pienaar at @thetimes.com on the urgency of stopping the super rich corrupting UK democracy. Listen ⤵️

Gordon Brown calls for policymakers to wake-up to what is happening in political donaitons. He says the elections bill currently in Parliament should allow the Government to set a cap on donations, having consulted the Ethics and Integrity Commission as well as the Electoral Commission.

Big-money donations poison British politics. We can stop the mega-rich buying access and influence | Gordon Brown

I’ve seen how imbalances in campaign spending can distort democracy. The multi-million-pound gifts to Reform must act as a final wake-up call, says former UK prime minister Gordon Brown

theguardian.com

🗣️"We can't have billionaires treating political parties like they were football clubs" @duncanhames.bsky.social Reform's £72m in pledges from just two crypto-billionaires is a watershed moment. But it's not a new problem. Politics' dependence on the super rich needs to end. More ⤵️

Decisive: for every voter opposed to political donation caps, almost three others back them.

Josiah Mortimer@josiahmortimer.bsky.social · 2mo ago

New YouGov polling: Voters overwhelmingly back a UK donations cap

We are not the only ones who think there should be some limits placed on the money in politics. Some of these might even surprise you, so please do watch and share. What do *you* think?

Transparency International UK@transparencyuk.bsky.social · 2mo ago

💷 TODAY: Peers debate big money in UK politics Reports that Reform UK secured £72m in pledges from two crypto-billionaires is a watershed moment. But it's not new. UK politics' dependency on mega donors risks corruption & policy capture by the super rich. It's time to cap donations. Watch ⤵️

Canada has a total ban on company/corporate donations. Only individuals who are Canadian citizens or permanent residents can make contributions and it's capped at $1,750 a year. They still have functioning parties and the sky hasn't fallen in. Quite the opposite... www.elections.ca/content.aspx...

Twice as costly as Liz Truss' despatching of a senior official, is quite a record for Sir Keir to have set, and with a peerage thrown in to boot! Who defends the interest of taxpayers in these disputes?

Financial Times@financialtimes.com · 2mo ago

Starmer approved record £860,000 pay-off for sacked civil service chief ft.trib.al/1FyxZHS

The government could have stopped this. Other comparable democracies cap political donations to make sure parties are accountable to voters, not wealthy donors. But Britain’s main parties have repeatedly ducked reform because they all benefit from the status quo. 2/2

Richard Tice MP when quizzed by the BBC's Nick Robinson this morning: "Hopefully your viewers will trust that statement from our compliance team"...

Tice says government trying to 'retrospectively change rules' as Reform receives £72m in donations

Reform UK announced two £36m donations this weekend, as a bill that could change the rules passes through Parliament. It's being debated again in the Lords later.

bbc.co.uk

Am on @lbc with @lewisgoodall.com shortly talking about how two crypto billionaires have given £72m to Reform and why British democracy is for sale.

Reform UK has received a £36m donation from a British cryptocurrency billionaire called Ben Delo Last year Delo was given an unconditional pardon by President Trump over a breach of anti-money laundering laws at his crypto trading platform, BitMEX, to which he had pleaded guilty in 2022

The Government’s Anti-Corruption Champion, Margaret Hodge says: “you have to tackle the issue. We can’t leave it alone. Self-interest shouldn’t dominate.” No more stalling, it’s time to act.

This situation is now completely out of control, and makes an irrefutable case for government to bring forward an annual cap on political donations, and fast.

Reform receives second £36m donation in two days as crypto investor matches record

The party says the money will allow it to fight the next election on a "level playing field", while rivals have renewed calls for donations from individuals to be capped.

bbc.co.uk

BREAKING: 80% of Reform’s funding comes from two crypto billionaires democracyforsale.substack.com/p/breaking-8...

BREAKING: 80% of Reform’s funding comes from two crypto billionaires

“If that isn't a massive corruption risk I don't know what is.”

democracyforsale.substack.com