Why Reform UK undercover donations claims are legally complicated

Reform UK has been hit by a row over foreign donations as the party's leaders and supporters gather for their annual conference.

The row centres on allegations which surfaced during undercover filming by Verbatim Investigations - founded by journalists from the Centre for Climate Reporting - and broadcast by Channel 4 News on Thursday.

The party denies any wrongdoing and says it is investigating. Robert Jenrick, Reform's economy spokesperson, said the two senior aides in the film had been suspended, telling the BBC's Today programme: "Nigel [Farage] got rid of the two people who did this…he acted swiftly, they've gone."

Both Labour and the Liberal Democrats have reported Reform to the Metropolitan Police, which says it is assessing the claims but has not launched an investigation. The Electoral Commission says it is "in touch" with the police.

We have looked at each of the three main allegations and where they sit with the law.

In the film, Nigel Farage's senior aide Dan Jukes and Reform's head of policy James Orr suggest a way around electoral law to secure foreign party donations for the party, one of which would have totaled £500,000.

Jukes meets an undercover reporter posing as a UK-based son of a wealthy American financier, who voices concern that his father could not directly donate to Reform within the law.

Jukes tells him: "You do realise that you can do it?" According to Channel 4, Jukes was suggesting that the donation could be in the son's name, even though the money would have come from his American father.

A similar arrangement is also mooted in a meeting with Orr.

Farage is shown saying "it's all above board" and expressing thanks. On Friday, Farage said he was in fact asking whether it was above board.

Channel 4 says the proposed £500,000 donation was never made.

Under electoral law, you must be a UK registered voter or a company registered in the UK to be a "permissable" donor to a UK political party. In this instance, the son would be a permissible donor, but his father would not be.

Any donation of more than £500 from an impermissible source must be declared to the Electoral Commission and returned within 30 days.

If the party keeps it beyond that, it is deemed to have accepted the donation - and that could lead to a fine and potential criminal investigation.

Channel 4 says Reform commissioned three opinion polls between January and July 2026, costing £32,500 in total.

One was on the front page of the Telegraph newspaper under the headline "Labour would face wipeout if elections went ahead"; another on the front page of the Times with the headline "Reform vote in unions at same level as Labour".

In the film, Orr suggests to the undercover reporter that perhaps the American financier could pay for opinion polling to help with Reform's campaigns.

He is shown saying this would "technically be a donation in kind" but "the reality is we could easily get away with it".

The public was not told who had commissioned and paid for the three polls. Polling firm JL Partners, the Telegraph and the Times have all said this was not known to them either.

Farage said on Friday the polls in question had been commissioned by an independent third party and that Reform had "not done anything wrong".

Any legitimate donations from permissible donors worth more than £11,180 in a calendar year must, by law, be declared to the Electoral Commission. The £32,500 polling payment does not appear to have been declared.

The legal definition for a political party donation includes payments for studies and research.

The Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act 2000 specifically outlaws knowingly taking steps to disguise or conceal that a donation has come from an impermissible source.

As part of this, it can be a crime for someone to conceal money spent on expenses incurred directly or indirectly by the party - and to mislead a party on the source of a donation. The maximum sentence is 12 months in prison.

It is in this context that Labour is demanding the police investigate the polling and whether there is evidence of concealing who actually paid for it.

But investigating this and the other claims in the film would be hugely complex - and a 30-minute TV report could not be the sole basis for a prosecution.

The police would almost certainly ask Channel 4 for all the unused filmed material, research notes and plans for the documentary. Detectives would want to interview everyone involved and understand their intentions.

In a statement on Friday, JL Partners said that "sometimes people with a party alignment make suggestions about potential clients who may be interested in commissioning and paying for polling" in the UK and abroad, and that it would not expect to be told the precise relationship between Reform and the US-based company.

Nick Vamos, former head of specialist crime at the Crown Prosecution Service, explained: "It is very common for allegations of electoral offences to be reported to the police, especially by political rivals looking to score points," adding the police would assess the evidence neutrally to decide whether a full investigation is required.

Such offences very rarely lead to prosecution. Between 2011 and 2021, the Electoral Commission referred eight cases to the Met, none of which resulted in charges. Even if there were an investigation, it would take months to get near specialist detectives or prosecutors.

Elsewhere in the film, Jukes appears to list other supporters of Reform UK who have potentially donated to the party through UK residents.

The names, made in the context of discussing the proposed £500,000 arrangement, are bleeped out.

He is shown telling the undercover reporter: "But, you know, serious point, [REDACTED] donates to us, and he donates through his son, the [REDACTED] they donate through their…"

The undercover reporter replies, "Through their kids yeah", to which Jukes responds: "The [REDACTED], [REDACTED], one of the two. [REDACTED]. [REDACTED]. The [REDACTED] are Reform donors. It's the father and it's the son, so that's one of the ways in which we do it."

During a press conference on Friday, Farage referred to this as "loose pub talk" with "a bit of boasting, a bit of jack-the-lad-dery going on there".

"Donations from the names that were mentioned have not occurred, don't exist… in our accounts," he added.

It would be for the Electoral Commission and the police to assess any previous Reform donations and their record of declarations.

Reform and the individuals involved in the investigations have denied any wrongdoing.

Sign up for our Politics Essential newsletter to keep up with the inner workings of Westminster and beyond.