Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:

To ask His Majesty's Government what checks are carried out on the source of finance donated to political parties by British voters living abroad.

British citizens living overseas who are registered as overseas electors are permissible donors under electoral law and may donate to UK political parties.

Political parties are required to take all reasonable steps to check that donations come from permissible donors and to report donations above statutory thresholds to the Electoral Commission. It is a criminal offence to accept, facilitate or disguise an impermissible donation.

Following the publication of the independent Rycroft Review, the Government set out (attached) its intention to implement the Review’s first recommendation by introducing an annual cap of £100,000 on political donations from overseas electors.