Reform UK is party of the 'have yachts' as 'borders don't matter' for offshore donations

Reform UK is fighting this week's council in part with funds given by donors who live offshore. It comes as Nick Candy, 's Party Treasurer and property tycoon, bragged about fundraising from wealthy donors in havens.

Mr Candy told the Financial Times: “We’ll do events in restaurants, people’s private homes and on yachts... You have to be on the UK electoral register or the overseas electoral register or have a UK trading company. There are plenty of people in Monaco, Switzerland, the Isle of Man, Guernsey, who can meet both of those criteria to donate.” that had raised more than £16m in five years from people or companies with links to tax havens.

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That is three quarters of the donations Reform UK and its predecessor has received since 2019. It includes the Evans family who gave £200,000 last year through Evans Management Limited.

The firm is owned through a Jersey-based parent company and has been controlled since 2016 by property tycoon Michael Evans and wife Helga who, according to Companies House, are resident in tax haven Monaco – where they base their 213ft superyacht. Another donor listed as living in Monaco is Margaret Hepburn, owner of Hepburn Bio Care, which gave £50,000 last year.

Financier Roger Nagioff gave £100,000 to the party in December. He has given his country of residence to Companies House as Monaco, an elite tax haven in the Mediterranean, and previously donated nearly £500,000 to the Conservatives between 2004 and 2020. Mr Nagioff did not respond to a request for comment.

But a Reform UK Spokesman said: “Before the last , received a 4 million pound donation from an overseas donor. Our party is funded by Reform members, and grassroots small donors. 226k members x £25 per year is £5.65 million." A Labour source said: "Reform is clearly the party of the yachts, not the have nots. They’re not on the side of working people and it’s plain for all to see.”

Agustina Oliveri, Head of Campaigns at the Good Law Project, said: “Reform UK are cruelly obsessed with putting up borders when it comes to refugees and asylum seekers desperately trying to find safety. But when it comes to donations from the superrich with links to tax havens, these borders suddenly don’t seem to matter.

"Farage’s plans to raise millions from foreign sources exposes how vulnerable our democracy is to outside interference. It’s time the Electoral Commission gets serious on closing the gating loopholes in donations rules.”

There is no suggestion of wrongdoing or that any have unlawfully avoided paying tax. But our probe last September raised questions about Reform’s reliance on money from sources linked to tax havens.

Their combined donations of £16.5m formed about 75% of the £22.5m Reform has registered with the Electoral Commission since 2019, including a period when it was the Party.