Reform UK has been forced to reject more unlawful donations than any other British political party in 2025, a sign of the fundraising hurdles Nigel Farage has faced as he tries to build an election-winning machine.
The party has had to give back almost £200,000 this year from 18 impermissible donors, according to Electoral Commission data. There were 23 donors turned away by British politicians or parties reported in 2025 in total.
Reform, which is leading in UK political polls despite having only five MPs, is trying to raise up to £40mn before the next general election expected in 2029 and has been seeking money from wealthy offshore donors.
Nick Candy, the party's treasurer, told the Financial Times in April that he wanted to raise funding from British expatriates as well as rich foreigners with UK businesses.
A Reform spokesperson said the party "takes pride in its stringent vetting of donations and always ensures that guidelines on donations are strictly followed, as has been the case with donations so far".
Eleven of the donations returned by Reform, worth £60,300, were made by people living overseas, including in Monaco, Jersey and Germany, who had not been eligible to donate at the time that they gave the money.
Others were rejected because the people had not given required information such as their addresses, or because they came from a company that had showed insufficient evidence of trading activity.
UK electoral rules limit donations to people who are registered to vote, which typically means they either live in the country or are citizens. UK-incorporated businesses can donate, even if they're foreign-owned.
If politicians or parties receive donations that fall outside of this remit, they must return them within 30 days of receipt. There is no limit on the amounts that permissible donors can give, but there are spending restrictions for parties and candidates during election campaigns.
The largest failed donation was £100,000 received in May from Bellcave Limited, a holding company used by investment firm Greybull Capital. At the time Bellcave's publicly available accounts showed no trading activity.
The following month Greybull itself donated £100,000. The firm is known for its past investments in troubled UK businesses such as Monarch Airlines, British Steel and electrics retailer Comet. Greybull declined to comment.
Reform also returned £30,000 donated in April by Francesco Dixit Dominus, the Italian chief financial officer of Viaro Energy, an oil and gas company with operations in the North Sea.
Dixit Dominus's country of residence is not specified on Electoral Commission records, which indicated he was not registered to vote in the UK at the time of donation. Corporate records show him listing the UK as his place of usual residence while listing a correspondence address in Dubai.
Electoral Commission records stated that he was expected to have joined the electoral roll by June. There is no record of a subsequent donation as of September 1, the most recent date for which data is currently available.
Dixit Dominus declined to comment.
Rob Ford, professor of political science at Manchester University, said: "This suggests Reform is attracting attention from potential donors abroad, seemingly ones who are not familiar with British electoral law."
"While it is possible that some of this money is of dubious provenance, it is also possible that this is simply due to a young and fast growing party attracting a new class or network of donors abroad who aren't familiar with the rules," he added.
Duncan Hames, director of policy at Transparency International UK, said: "While it's encouraging to see Reform UK taking its compliance with political finance law seriously, these findings show that concerns over ineligible donors seeking to influence our politics are real and justified."
Reform has raised just over £3mn since the last general election, significantly less than the Tories and Labour, despite soaring to first place in opinion polling.
Farage had previously been hoping to raise money from Tesla boss Elon Musk. The Reform leader claimed in December that Musk was giving "serious thought" to donating to the party.
The two subsequently split over whether Reform should welcome far-right agitator Tommy Robinson, who Farage has rejected and Musk has embraced.
But the prospect of the world's richest man putting significant sums of money into British politics sparked calls for the government to limit the ability of foreigners to donate via UK companies they own.
Electoral Commission chief executive Vijay Rangarajan has previously said the "system needs strengthening . . . to protect the electoral system from foreign interference".
The other instances of impermissible donations this year were three totalling £7,200 made to the MP Rupert Lowe, who was previously in Reform, and two by the Liberal Democrats, worth a total of £6,300. All of those donations were also returned.