Labor is trying to ‘open the floodgates’ to Russian political donations, claims Boris Johnson

Responding on Mr Johnson’s behalf on Friday, Lord True insisted the legislation ‘closes loopholes on foreign spending – making it harder for dark third parties to spend money campaigning in UK elections’ .

In the letter, seen by The Telegraph, the Cabinet Office minister added: “I note that instead of supporting the right to vote for expatriate Britons, the Labor Party wants to give full voting rights to all foreigners who live in Great Britain. The Labor government in Wales has already done this with regard to the right to vote for local and devolved elections. The Scottish government has done the same in Scotland.

“This gave foreign Russian citizens residing in Wales and Scotland the right to make unlimited donations to the Labor Party and the SNP. The Shadow Labor Minister in the Lords has now tabled an amendment to the Election Bills which would grant all foreign nationals permitted to enter or remain the right to vote in all local and parliamentary elections in the UK – and therefore to make a donation.

Lord True continued: “It is the Labor Party that would open the doors to a flood of foreign citizens’ money into British politics.”

Until recently, the only people who could register to vote and therefore also donate to UK political parties were UK, Commonwealth or EU citizens living in the UK.

However, under changes which came into force in Scotland in 2020 and which are due to come into force in Wales in May, the right to vote in local elections, as well as the Welsh Assembly and the Scottish Parliament, has been extended to all legally resident foreign nationals. in every nation.

This means that foreign nationals residing in each country can also donate to UK political parties.

Labor rejects allegations as ‘absurd’

A Labor spokesman called Lord True’s claims ‘nonsense’, insisting it was the Tories who ‘accepted millions of pounds from donors linked to Russia’.

The election bill “will allow even more foreign money to flow into our system,” the spokesman insisted.

‘Labour have put forward proposals which would stop the flow of foreign money from overseas and have called for this bill to be scrapped in its entirety.’

An SNP spokesman said: ‘The Conservatives are the only political party that accepts donations from people linked to the Kremlin.