A UK parliamentary committee warned on Wednesday that weaknesses in Britain’s political finance regime leave it vulnerable to illicit foreign funds, and said enforcement remains too fragmented and underpowered to deter abuse.

In a report, the Joint Committee on the National Security Strategy said the current system is ill-equipped to detect, investigate, and punish attempts to route suspect money into UK politics. It described the framework as “too brittle, permissive, disjointed, slow, retrospective, and underpowered,” raising the risk that illicit finance could enter political campaigning directly or through opaque corporate structures and other intermediaries.

The committee said the threat environment had worsened as hostile states, technological change, and weak transparency standards created more opportunities for malign actors to exploit gaps in the rules. Even where illicit funds are not proven to have influenced outcomes, the perception that dirty money can penetrate the system would damage public confidence, the committee concluded. 

The report urges the government to harden anti-abuse controls, including by creating a dedicated Political Finance Enforcement Unit within the National Crime Agency. Committee members also said the government must suspend  crypto donations until statutory guidance is in place, tighten rules around company donations and beneficial ownership, lower disclosure thresholds for gifts tied to donations, and expand the Electoral Commission’s investigatory powers.

It also called for stronger criminal liability for those who facilitate impermissible foreign funding and for tougher sentences in serious cases, saying the current regime does not provide a credible enforcement response to the risk of illicit finance in British politics.

Matt Western, the chair of the joint committee, called for action to “safeguard our politics from dirty money.” 

“Failure to act could see the UK in real trouble,” he said in a statement. “I urge ministers to take seriously the amendments I will bring to the Representation of the People Bill today.”

Read the committee report here