Labour donor takes swipe at Reform UK as he calls for ban on private funding for political parties

A major Labour donor has backed a report calling for a ban on private funding for UK political parties. Dale Vince, owner of green energy firm Ecotricity, said democracy is "increasingly up for sale to the highest bidder" and should be made "squeaky clean". He has now backed a report - published by the Autonomy Institute - which calls for public funding of political parties. It claims the move would cost just £50million a year and could be funded by repurposing funding to the royal family. TRENDING Stories Videos Your Say Mr Vince is a major donor to the Labour Party, recently donating £50,000 to back Somali refugee Sagal Abdi-Wali's fight for Sir Keir Starmer'sHolborn and St Pancras seat. The multimillionaire commissioned the report titled "Politics is no longer for sale" through his company, which handles an 87.2 megawatt wind farm portfolio. Backing the report, Mr Vince said "ridiculous sums of money" was distorting the political "playing field", pointing to consecutive £36million donations from Ben Delo and Christopher Harborne as evidence the ban was needed. He said: "British democracy is increasingly up for sale to the highest bidder, and nowhere is that clearer than with Reform UK: a party with no track record and precious few real policies, being bankrolled to a level of prominence a handful of super-rich donors have simply bought for them. "As a donor myself, I've been calling for a ban on all political donations for some time. "For £50million a year, less than the cost of a packet of crisps per person, we could make our politics squeaky clean and genuinely representative. The end goal has to be a fully publicly funded system." Nigel Farage said both men believed Reform UK was "the only party that can turn the country around and win the next General Election" as he thanked them for their contributions. Autonomy, a think tank, has previously identified 373 companies that receive political party donations and public contracts, with more than £1,294 flowing back to these firms in contracts for every £1 donated since 2000. ### LATEST POLITICS: - Kemi Badenoch won't accept return of Reform defectors as Tories set sights on Nigel Farage's voters - Kemi Badenoch refuses to protect triple lock if Andy Burnham scraps pensions guarantee - Police stop Reform UK van that shows Kemi Badenoch as a clown outside Tory conference It has also set out two possible funding models for how to replace private donations. Autonomy, in one model, proposed a "democratic multiplier" which would give parties holding at least one Commons seat £50 annually for each paid-up member, with a floor of £3million a year for smaller parties. Another model would be a "democracy voucher" scheme which would let every eligible voter allocate £1 of public money to a party of their choice each year. The report compares the plan to France, Germany and Canada, all of which either ban or heavily restrict corporate donations to political parties. The think tank estimates the UK scheme would cost around £50million a year at current membership and turnout levels, with funding coming from a reduction in the share of Crown Estate profits paid to the monarchy in the Sovereign Grant. Dr Will Stronge, chief executive at the Autonomy Institute, said: "Our research has shown time and again that the current system of political financing is unfair and structurally corrosive. "When a small number of wealthy donors can bankroll a party's rise, and when donors and government contractors turn out to be the same firms, the link between votes and political power starts to break down. "France, Germany and Canada have all shown that a democracy can function, and function well, without corporate and billionaire money bankrolling its parties. "At roughly £50million a year, a publicly funded alternative is a small price for a political system the public can actually trust." Our Standards: The GB News Editorial Charter