Union leaders resist political donations cap after Reform given £72m

Paul Nowak, the TUC’s general secretary, addresses its conference on Tuesday. He said huge donations to Reform UK should ‘ring alarm bells’. Photograph: Stefan Rousseau/PA

Trade unions have stopped short of backing a cap on political donations but called for further action on big money in politics, in a joint statement after Reform UK was given an unprecedented £72m from two donors.

General secretaries have been split on a call for unions to back a specific cap on individual donors to political parties while protecting trade union donations, which the TUC said were the “cleanest money in politics” because it came from workers’ subscriptions.