UK Politics

Soros Gave £3m to Stop Brexit. Now Labour’s Backdated Cap Could Hit Reform’s £72m

Open Society's own record shows about £3m went to anti-Brexit campaigns, while Labour's backdated £100k cap could now hit Reform's record £72m donations.

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Should Labour's donor cap also apply to trade union money?

Matt · 28 Oct 2026 · 07:13 · 9 min read · 246 reads

George Soros, founder of the Open Society Foundations, at the European Commission in 2017, beside the figure £3,021,689 that Open Society says it gave anti-Brexit groups

News | By Matt, Editor

For years the Left has warned that outside money is a threat to British democracy. Yet by its own published account, the Open Society Foundations, founded by billionaire George Soros, put about £3 million into the campaign to keep Britain in the EU. (Open Society Foundations)

Now Labour’s elections bill carries a £100,000-a-year cap on donations from Britons living abroad, backdated to 25 March 2026. Communities Secretary Angela Rayner has suggested it could catch the £72 million two crypto billionaires gave Reform UK in September. Reform says both gifts are legal. (The Guardian; MHCLG)

And this week, the Left has been passing round a chart claiming Elon Musk has now outspent Mr Soros on American elections. (Mike Nellis on X)

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Key facts

£3,021,689: what Open Society says it gave four UK groups making the case for staying in the EU, 2016 to 2019. (Open Society Foundations)
£2,700,689 of that went to Best for Britain. (Open Society Foundations)
£100,000 a year: the proposed cap on party donations from overseas voters, backdated to 25 March 2026. (MHCLG; BBC News)
£72m: the two £36m donations to Reform from Christopher Harborne and Ben Delo, the largest in British political history. (BBC News)
Almost £43m: what Labour has received from trade unions since 2020. The bill puts no cap on that. (BBC News; The Guardian)
$446m: what Elon Musk has given in the 2026 US midterms, the biggest individual total in modern American history. Mr Soros has given $102m. (Washington Post; Al Jazeera)

The £3 million to stop Brexit

In February 2018, the BBC reported that Best for Britain had received £400,000 from Mr Soros through one of his foundations. The group was then chaired by Lord Malloch-Brown, a former Labour minister. The Telegraph reported that it planned advertising to convince MPs to vote against the final Brexit deal. (BBC News)

Lord Malloch-Brown said: “We have never hidden our agenda; we have been campaigning hard to win a meaningful vote on Brexit, which we did, and to keep all options on the table, including staying in the European Union.” (BBC News)

Its president at the time, Patrick Gaspard, said the grants were meant to help “ensure that this crucial debate is not shut down”. (Open Society Foundations)

In August 2019 it published the full figure: “approximately £3,021,689 over four years” to “four different groups in Britain working to support debate and engagement on the case for the UK staying in the European Union”. (Open Society Foundations)

Best for Britain: £400,000 (2017), £1,087,000 (2018) and £1,213,689 (2019)
European Movement: £100,000 (2017) and £100,000 (2018)
Scientists for EU: £35,000 (2017)
Bright Blue: £86,000 (2016)

Open Society says the grants were made openly, through a non-charitable arm in London, and that none went to parliamentarians or government officials. (Open Society Foundations)

Bar chart of Open Society grants to UK anti-Brexit groups: Best for Britain £2,700,689, European Movement UK £200,000, Bright Blue £86,000, Scientists for EU £35,000 — Chart: BBN, data from Open Society Foundations, updated 23 August 2019.

Labour’s backdated cap

Labour brought in its Representation of the People Bill in February. Campaigners hailed it as passing the “Musk test”, meaning it would stop foreign billionaires giving big sums to UK parties. (Unlock Democracy; The Guardian)

On 2 September, ministers added tougher rules on donations. (MHCLG)

Voters living abroad could give a party no more than £100,000 a year.
Anyone moving back to the UK stays under the cap until they have lived here for a full calendar year.
Crypto donations are banned, backdated to 25 March 2026.
Companies could give no more than their post-tax profits.

Ten days later, Reform announced the two £36 million donations. (BBC News) The overseas cap is backdated to 25 March 2026. The Guardian says the question for both donors is whether they were registered as UK-based voters before that date. (The Guardian)

Ms Rayner, the minister responsible for the bill, suggested the donations could be caught. She also said the bill “isn’t about individual donors to a political party”. (The Guardian)

Nigel Farage told the BBC both gifts were “100% compliant with the law today”. He said of the backdating: “This cannot be.” (BBC News) A Reform spokesperson said: “We are 100% confident both are legal and won’t ever have to be handed back.” (The Guardian)

The bill is not yet law. It passed the Commons on 2 September and is now in the House of Lords, with committee stage due to start on 2 November. (UK Parliament) We covered Labour’s first move here and Reform’s plans for a legal fight here.

What the bill leaves alone

The cap is on donors living abroad, and there is no limit on UK-based donors, including trade unions. (The Guardian)

The Guardian reported that “unions have been central to the decision not to impose a domestic donations cap”. It said several unions, especially the GMB, argued that a cap would be a slippery slope towards future right-wing governments curbing union donations. (The Guardian)

Labour has received almost £43 million from trade unions since 2020. (BBC News) We looked at that imbalance here.

Union leaders still went after Reform’s donors. Unison’s Andrea Egan said: “Farage is turning to crypto billionaires in an attempt to undermine our democracy.” (The Guardian) TUC general secretary Paul Nowak called Reform “a party for sale”. (BBC News)

The Musk chart going viral

On 26 October, Democratic strategist Mike Nellis posted a chart claiming Mr Musk “has spent more money on American elections in the last two years than George Soros has in his entire life”. By Tuesday it had been seen about 780,000 times. (Mike Nellis on X)

The chart puts Mr Musk at about $759 million and Mr Soros at about $624 million. It counts federal, state and local US election giving, and cites the FEC, IRS filings and FollowTheMoney/OpenSecrets data. (Mike Nellis on X)

Those are the chart’s own estimates and we have not been able to check them independently. A US account later presented them as “IT’S OFFICIAL”. No official body has published that comparison that we can find. (X)

What is on the record is this cycle. Mr Musk has given $446 million to the 2026 midterms, mostly to keep Republicans in control of Congress. Mr Soros has given $102 million to the Democracy PAC super PAC, through a company and a nonprofit he controls. (Washington Post; Al Jazeera)

All of that is American election money. None of it went into British politics.

Bar chart of top donors in the 2026 US midterms: Elon Musk $446m, Elizabeth and Richard Uihlein $150m, Jeff and Janine Yass $110m, George Soros $102m — Chart: BBN, data from the Washington Post analysis of FEC filings to 23 October 2026.

Musk and British parties

In May, Mr Farage told The Sun that Mr Musk “wanted to give us a load of money if I said certain things publicly and I refused.” Mr Musk replied on X: “Farage is lying.” (HuffPost UK)

In September, Restore Britain leader Rupert Lowe told a Mayfair fundraiser that Mr Musk had offered the party “as much money as we want”. He said he turned it down, partly because accepting a foreign donation would be illegal. (Daily Mail, citing The Times)

Under current law, a party can only accept donations over £500 from permissible donors, such as registered UK voters or UK companies. Anything else must be returned within 30 days. (Daily Mail)

The fair points

Labour says the changes protect UK democracy from foreign money and hostile actors. (MHCLG) Ms Rayner says ministers did not know the Reform donations were coming. (The Guardian)

Open Society gave openly, to UK campaign groups and a Conservative think tank, and published the figures itself. (Open Society Foundations) The new cap is on donations to political parties, so it would not have covered those grants. The Government has set up a separate team to look at third-party campaigning. (MHCLG)

There are real questions about Reform’s donors. The Guardian reported that Channel 4 had seen records suggesting Mr Harborne only registered as a domestic voter in June. Reform will not say when either man registered. (The Guardian)

A suspended Reform official, James Orr, was secretly filmed in July doubting whether the gifts would survive the cap. The Guardian says police are investigating a separate matter raised by the same undercover filming. Mr Orr denies wrongdoing, and the party has published its own report clearing him. (The Guardian)

No court or regulator has ruled that either donation is unlawful.

Verdict

This is opinion, built on the record above.

About £3 million of a foreign billionaire’s foundation money went into campaigns to keep Britain in the EU after the biggest vote in British history. Where was the Left’s alarm about outside money then?

Now two British businessmen back the party that delivered Brexit, and Labour’s rule is backdated to March. A Labour minister suggests it could catch their money. Meanwhile, the almost £43 million Labour has taken from trade unions since 2020 faces no cap at all.

Foreign money in our politics is a fair concern. But it should be one rule for everyone: Remain campaigners, Labour’s union backers and Reform alike. And a viral chart about American elections tells British voters nothing about who is trying to buy theirs.

Frequently asked questions

How much did George Soros give to stop Brexit?

Open Society Foundations, which Mr Soros founded, says it gave about £3,021,689 between 2016 and 2019 to Best for Britain, the European Movement, Scientists for EU and Bright Blue. (Open Society Foundations)

Was the Open Society money illegal?

No ruling has said so. The grants went to campaign groups and a think tank, not to political parties or politicians, and Open Society published them. (Open Society Foundations)

Will Reform have to hand back the £72m?

Not under current law. If the bill passes as drafted, the backdated overseas cap could apply, depending on when each donor was a registered UK-based voter. Reform says both donations are legal. (The Guardian; BBC News)

Does the bill cap trade union donations?

No. There is no cap on UK-based donors, and the Guardian reports unions were central to that decision. (The Guardian)

Has Musk really outspent Soros?

In the 2026 midterms, yes: $446m against $102m. (Washington Post) The lifetime figures ($759m against $624m) come from a chart posted by a Democratic strategist, and we have not verified them. (Mike Nellis on X)