Cleaning up politics: a three-step plan
13th July 2026
REPORT | Will Stronge
Summary:
• Research has found that the share of political donations from those giving £1 million or more has risen thirty-five-fold in under a decade, from around 1% in 2015 to over a third in 2024.
• This briefing sets out a three-step plan for cleaning up British politics: reforms that would cost the Treasury nothing but could restore public trust in politics within the first hundred days of a new government.
• Cap donations at £20,000 to end the era of the mega-donor, while protecting genuine grassroots and membership-based giving.
• Close the “giver and taker” loophole by banning public contracts for companies that donate to the governing party.
• End second jobs for MPs, so Parliament’s attention goes to constituents rather than outside earners.
• Each reform is a change to existing rules, not a spending commitment, and each can be delivered through legislation already before Parliament or through the House’s own Code of Conduct.