Angela Rayner accepted £20,000 from a company that would be barred from donating under Labour’s incoming crackdown on foreign money in politics, The i Paper has learned.
The Housing Secretary accepted the money from a UK firm that is controlled by an American parent company, to pay for staff in her office in July this year.
The £20,000 donation was made by Signal Global Advisors, a policy and political research firm which markets its ability to connect clients with “high-level policymakers”.
The donation was properly declared and legal under current rules but would be barred under a looming clamp down on foreign money in politics that Rayner is currently steering through Parliament.
The Labour Government is bringing in new restrictions after Reform received a record breaking £72 million in donations from two crypto billionaires who have spent time living abroad.
While the donation to Rayner was a significantly smaller sum, it is likely to raise eyebrows given her stinging criticism of Reform’s crypto-backers, and leading role in bringing forward the new legislation.
According to guidance from Rayner’s Government department, The Representation of the People Bill will require any company that makes a political donation to be majority owned or controlled by UK voters or British citizens living here.
Signum’s British arm is controlled by its American parent company, and the department’s guide says a firm majority owned by another company from abroad would not qualify.
The advisory firm provides analysis and forecasts on policies that affect investments and financial markets. It was founded by its chairman Charles Myers, a former investment banker and adviser to Hillary Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign.
Signum has previously provided advice to oil companies, which is also seemingly at odds with Rayner’s vocal support for Labour’s drive towards clean power.
Donation could undermine Rayner’s punchy criticism of Reform
In September, Rayner fronted the Government’s response after Reform received £36 million each from two crypto billionaires, Ben Delo and Christopher Harborne, the joint largest donations ever made to a British party.
Both businessman are British-born but have spent significant periods living abroad – Delo in Hong Kong, and Harborne in Thailand where he holds citizenship.
Rayner said the new bill would stop foreign interference and billionaires buying British democracy.
In a speech at the TUC Congress last month, she delivered a stinging rebuke to Farage, saying: “You can’t pay your way out of accountability to the people of this country.”
Under the Representation of the People Bill, companies will only be allowed to donate if they pass three tests. They must be headquartered in the UK, have made enough profit to cover the donation, and be majority owned or controlled by UK voters or British citizens living here.
The rules cover cash and any gift in kind worth more than £2,230, and ministers have confirmed they will apply to MPs as well as parties.
News rules designed to crackdown on foreign money in politics
Rayner’s department’s own guide to the legislation spells out how the ownership test works. It says a donating company’s controllers must be UK voters or citizens, and that a company majority owned by another company based abroad “will not pass this requirement”.
Companies House records name a single controlling party for Signum’s British arm: Signum Global Advisors LLC, a company registered in the US with an address in New York. It is listed as holding at least 75 per cent of the shares and voting rights, with the power to appoint and remove directors, and has been since the British company was set up in 2019.
Both of the British company’s directors are Americans living in the US.
Signum disputes that it is American-owned. It said it was “100% owned by the partners”, including several UK citizens based in London, all with equity and voting rights. It said the donation to Rayner was made solely by the British company from money earned in the UK, in full compliance with British law.
It did not say whether UK citizens make up a majority of its owners and declined to comment after a follow-up asking whether it disputed that it would fail the new test.
But according to Rayner’s department’s own guide to the incoming legislation, the make-up of the partnership would make no difference, because the British company that made the donation is majority owned by another company based in the US.
Rayner was also paid £10,000 by Signum for a speaking engagement in March, which she asked to be given to charity.
Since returning to Cabinet in the summer she has taken charge of The Representation of the People Bill, tabling amendments to tighten the rules further. It cleared the Commons by 411 votes to 102 on 2 September and is now in the Lords.
A spokesperson for Rayner said: “All these donations complied with the law. The same rules will apply to all politicians and political parties in the same way once the Bill is passed, including Angela.”