Question

To ask the Right hon. Member for Kenilworth and Southam, representing the Speaker's Committee on the Electoral Commission, with reference to the Electoral Commission publication, Understanding the Representation of the People Bill, updated March 2026, whether the Electoral Commission has made an assessment of the potential impact of its proposal that a company’s profit should be used as the measure of its earnings on political parties.

The Electoral Commission has long called for reforms that ensure that only companies that make enough money in the UK can donate to political parties. It has recommended using profit as the measure that would more effectively prevent foreign money from entering the system, by providing the strongest guarantee that donations by a company can only be from money made in the UK.

In developing its recommendation, the Commission considered the potential impact on the integrity and sustainability of political party funding, as well as the impact on the ability of legitimate companies to participate in the UK's democratic processes.