Companies that donated to Labour were awarded £138million in contracts during the party’s first year in power, a new report has shown.
The study by research group The Autonomy Institute investigated the link between donations from private businesses to major political parties in Britain and the awarding of public sector contracts.
It found over the last 25 years, £47million has been donated by companies who have received public contracts in return, totalling £60billion.
The report showed that eight companies which had donated over £580,000 to the Labour Party were awarded contracts worth just under £138million within two years of their contribution, between July 2024 and June 2025.
A total of 29 firms meanwhile donated nearly £11million to the Conservative Party and were then given contracts worth £2.3billion while the party was in Government, between May 2015 and July 2024.
Dr Susan Hawley, executive director of Spotlight on Corruption said: “There is nothing more damaging to public trust than the perception that those with privileged access to those in power get privileged access to taxpayer-funded contracts.
“These findings show a systemic problem with the UK’s absurdly weak handling of conflicts of interest.”
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David Lammy faces backlash from prison governors after ordering strengthening of release checks on inmates
David Lammy is facing backlash from prison chiefs after ordering the “immediate strengthening” of checks on inmates upon their release.
The Justice Secretary announced plans for the new checks after Hadush Kebatu, an asylum seeker jailed for the sexual assault of a 14-year-old girl, was wrongly freed from HMP Chelmsford on Friday morning instead of being sent to an immigration detention centre.
According to The Telegraph, one prison governor said: “I understand the Government is very eager to prevent this from happening again, but there’s an investigation which has only just been commissioned.
“Until that’s under way, the prison service won’t know what went wrong or whether the proposed checks are what are needed to prevent it happening again.”
Another prison chief said it may be a “knee-jerk reaction” to prove to the public that the Government was taking action following the incident.
Officials at centre of collapsed China spy case to appear before parliamentary inquiry
Christopher Berry and Christopher Cash both denied charges under the Official Secrets Act
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PA
Senior officials at the heart of the collapsed China spying case will appear before a parliamentary inquiry today.
Director of Public Prosecutions Stephen Parkinson took the decision to drop the case, blaming the evidence from deputy national security adviser (DNSA) Matt Collins for not demonstrating that China posed a threat to national security.
Both men will give evidence to MPs and peers on the Joint Committee on the National Security Strategy (JCNSS) this afternoon.
The collapse of the case against Christopher Cash, a former parliamentary researcher, and Christopher Berry – who both denied charges under the Official Secrets Act – has triggered a Westminster blame game.
The Conservatives have accused Sir Keir Starmer of deliberately collapsing the case to avoid damaging relations with Beijing while the Prime Minister has said the prosecution had to be based on the Tory position – which did not describe China as a threat – at the time of the alleged offences.