When Rupert Lowe walked out of Reform after a row with Nigel Farage and founded his own hard-right party called Restore, he did so with £2.5m start up cash.
But due to a loophole in Britain’s electoral law, he does not have to say where that money came from.
Lowe’s hard-right party – which wants to supplant Nigel Farage’s Reform UK as the main party of the populist right – was registered with the Electoral Commission in February with a bigger war chest than any party set-up in the last three years.
In just a few short months the party has become worrisome for Farage. Championed by the US tech billionaire Elon Musk, it took seven per cent of the vote in last month’s Makerfield by-eletion that propelled Labour’s Andy Burnham back to Parliament.
The UK’s electoral law says that any donations over £500 have to be recorded, while donations from foreign individuals are banned, although foreign companies incorporated in the UK can donate.
But Lowe does not have to reveal where th estart-up money came from because the assets belonging to a party at the time of its registration are not subject to the standard transparency rules applying to political donations.
While there is no suggestion that Lowe or Restore have done anything wrong, MPs and transparency campaigners say the blind spot around political parties’ ‘start-up capital’ represents a loophole which could allow “dark money” to flow into British politics.
Loophole is a ‘national security risk’
A group of Labour MPs claim it presents a “national security risk” which could be exploited by foreign plutocrats, and are trying to change the law to close the loophole.
Currently, new political parties can be set up using unlimited, unchecked money before registration with the Electoral Commission.
For example, when Lowe registered Restore in March this year, it declared it had total assets of £2,597,825.88, as well as liabilities of £722,672.00.
Another hard-right party, Advance UK – which has been backed by the far-right activist Tommy Robinson – had £281,097.33 when it was registered in December last year.
On the other side of the political spectrum, Jeremy Corbyn’s Your Party was registered in September 2025 with £855,131.66 to its name after an initial donation drive – a war-chest which was later the subject of a brief dispute between Corbyn and his fellow co-founder Zarah Sultana.
The i Paper asked Lowe and Restore where the £2.5m came from, and whether all of it originated from “permissible sources” – UK registered individuals and companies. However, we did not receive a response.
The i Paper asked the same questions to Advance UK’s founder, Ben Habib – a former deputy leader of Reform who quit after a row with Farage.
Habib said that all of Advance’s money came from permissible sources because “we ran Advance, even before electoral registration, pursuant to the regulations of a political party”.
He said that the money came from £10 and £20 per head member subscriptions, as well as a £100,000 donation from himself.
While there is no allegation of wrongdoing in relation to Restore, transparency campaigners say the case highlights how easy it is for large amounts of money to enter the UK political system in the form of unchecked start-up funds.
Worries over foreign billionaires
There are concerns that foreign billionaires or other actors outside Britain could use the loophole to secretly bankroll new political parties.
Musk, for example, has been supportive of Restore – although there is no suggestion he has made any donations.
Yuan Yang, a Labour MP who sits on the Treasury Select Committee and the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Anti-Corruption and Responsible Tax, has tabled an amendment to the Representation of the People Bill currently passing through Parliament to try to close the loophole.
Yang told The i Paper: “It cannot be right that a new political party can receive an unlimited amount of money from anyone on earth, just as long as it does so five minutes before registering with the Electoral Commission. This is a clear national security risk and leaves us open to foreign interference.”
Her amendment would force all new parties registering with the Electoral Commission to declare all relevant bank accounts, confirm that no more than £250,000 of unchecked start-up capital is held, and subject any start-up funds above £250,000 to permissibility checks in line with existing party audit thresholds.
Yang added: “We currently allow far too much opaque money to slosh around our political system without proper oversight. This is the Wild West of political financing, and I speak for a large majority of my constituents when I say that we don’t want to go the way of America when it comes to the dominance of money in politics.”
‘The public have a right to know’
Steve Goodrich, head of research and investigations at Transparency International UK, said: “The public have the right to know who funds our politics, yet the law allows dark money to pour into our democracy unchecked.
“New political parties can register with millions in the bank and yet not have to declare or even know where the funds came from, which presents a clear national security risk.”
It comes as the government said on Monday it would amend the law governing donations from UK voters abroad to ensure that Britons returning to the UK can only donate £100,000 in their first year back.
An annual cap on donations of £100,000 from overseas voters – Britons registered to vote from abroad – had been proposed. But those who returned to the UK could drop their overseas elector status and donate above that threshold immediately, while Britons who had never registered to vote abroad but came back were not subject to the cap at all.
Advance founder agrees current system is a security risk
Lowe, the MP for Great Yarmouth, founded Restore after he was ejected from Reform following claims of bullying, which he denies. His new party shot to prominence after being promoted by Musk on X and has emerged as a thorn in the side of Farage and Reform, taking 7 per cent of the vote in its first by-election in Makerfield last month.
At the start of June, Habib announced that he was shutting down Advance to clear the field on the right for Restore.
Habib told The i Paper that he supported Yang’s amendment to bring greater transparency to start-up funds and agreed with her that the current system posed a national security risk in relation to dark money.
In terms of what will happen to Advance’s assets, Habib revealed the intention is to “de-register and then donate the cash (in accordance with our constitutional documents) to aligned political causes”.
He added that Advance “have no relationship with Restore and seek none with it”.
A spokesperson for the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government – the department which oversees elections and the Representation of the People Bill – said: “We are already taking robust action to tackle foreign interference in our democracy through our landmark Representation of the People Bill, including capping donations from overseas electors and banning donations made via crypto currency.
A spokesperson for the Electoral Commission said: “Voters need confidence that the UK’s political finance system is transparent and that the money funding politics is legitimate. There are a number of provisions in the UK Government’s Representation of the People Bill, currently before Parliament, which will further strengthen the safeguards in place and transparency for voters.
“We will consider this and other amendments made as the as the bill progresses.”
Hence then, the article about the mystery over restore s 2 5m start up cash was published today ( ) and is available on inews ( Middle East ) The editorial team at PressBee has edited and verified it, and it may have been modified, fully republished, or quoted. You can read and follow the updates of this news or article from its original source.
Read More Details
Finally We wish PressBee provided you with enough information of ( The mystery over Restore’s £2.5m start-up cash )
Also on site :