Britain’s government will cap political donations from British citizens living overseas at £100,000 a year and temporarily ban cryptocurrency donations under emergency election law changes aimed at countering foreign interference, according to a report by The Guardian.

The measures, which still require parliamentary approval, will be applied retrospectively from Wednesday because of the urgency of the threat to UK democracy, Communities Secretary Steve Reed told the newspaper. Reed said he was “not prepared to allow any window of opportunity for malign actors” to interfere in Britain’s electoral system, The Guardian reported.

The move is likely to hit Reform UK, which The Guardian said has received about £12 million in the past year from Thailand-based donor Christopher Harborne and other donors based in Monaco. The party is also the only major British political party to accept donations in cryptocurrency, although it has said none above the £11,180 declaration threshold have yet been reported, according to the newspaper.

The measures will be included in the government’s new representation of the people bill and follow recommendations from Philip Rycroft, a former senior civil servant who reviewed the risks of foreign influence in British politics. Rycroft said action was needed because overseas donations were harder to trace and regulate, and because donors living abroad were not subject to the same tax obligations as UK residents, according to The Guardian.

Among Rycroft’s other recommendations are a call to place more stringent checks on source of funds from political donors that would align with Know-Your-Customer controls within the financial industry and steps to prevent donations from shell companies, the news outlet said.

His review cited threats from hostile states including Russia, China and Iran, and also warned of possible influence from actors in allied countries such as the United States. Rycroft noted billionaire Elon Musk had floated the idea of putting money into British politics, according to the report. 

The review was commissioned after former Reform UK politician Nathan Gill was convicted of accepting bribes from Russia-linked sources, the newspaper said. In a foreword to his report, Rycroft said he was “not pressing the panic button but I am ringing the alarm bell” over foreign interference risks.

Read more at The Guardian