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Boris Johnson claims Welsh Government election changes will ‘open floodgates’ of Russian political donations

21 Mar 2022 3 minute read
Prime Minister Boris Johnson. Picture by Chatham House (CC BY 2.0). Mark Drakeford (right) Picture by Doubledoppler (CC BY-SA 4.0).

The Prime Minister has claimed that the Welsh Government’s changes to allow foreigners to vote in Senedd elections will “open gates to a flood” of political donations by Russians.

Individuals registered on a UK electoral register can make personal donations in the UK, and the Senedd and Elections (Wales) Act 2020 extends the vote to include qualifying foreign nationals.

In a letter sent to Labour leader Keir Starmer on the Prime Minister’s behalf, the Cabinet Office minister criticised the Welsh Labour Government for changes to the law which he said gave Russian citizens living in Wales and Scotland “the right to make unlimited donations”.

Cabinet Office Minister Lord True was responding to a letter sent by Keir Starmer to Boris Johnson in February raising concerns about the Elections Bill which is working its way through Westminster.

Keir Starmer called on Boris Johnson to “close the loophole allowing the use of shell companies to hide the true source of donations to political parties by foreign actors”.

“These proposals would ensure that donors to UK political parties have a connection to the UK, by mandating that individual and company donors are based here,” he said.

But Boris Johnson replied that changes introduced by Labour in Wales, and the SNP in Scotland, made it easier for foreign nations to donate money in the UK.

In the letter, seen by The Telegraph, the Cabinet Office minister added: “I note that rather than supporting British expats’ rights to vote, the Labour Party want to give full voting rights to all foreigners who live in Britain.

“The Labour Government in Wales has already done this in relation to the franchise for local and devolved elections. The Scottish Government has done the same in Scotland.

“This has given foreign Russian citizens resident in Wales and Scotland the right to make unlimited donations to the Labour Party and the SNP.

“Labour’s Shadow Minister in the Lords has now tabled an amendment to Election Bills that would grant all foreign nationals with leave to enter or remain the right to vote in all local and Parliamentary elections in the United Kingdom – and therefore donate.”

Lord True continued: “It is the Labour Party which would open the gates to a flood of foreign citizen money into British politics.”

Labour responded that it was the Conservatives that had “accepted millions of pounds from Russian-linked donors”.

“Labour put forward proposals that would put a stop to foreign money flooding in from overseas and has called for this bill to be scrapped in it’s entirety,” they said.


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Mark
Mark
2 years ago

More tory BS, just a distraction from johnson who is a massive recipient of russian money, and who is still the first sitting pm to be under criminal investigation.

Welsh_Siôn
Welsh_Siôn
2 years ago

Oh, good grief – is there no end to the man’s stupidity/projection/arrogance* … ?

*Do NOT delete as applicable – ALL are applicable.

Kurt C
Kurt C
2 years ago

The English first minister for Russian pride, should shut up. I am sick of the big-headed bigot Johnson. £3m in donations off one Russian alone, he is a traitor.

Llinos
Llinos
2 years ago

Well English people are allowed to vote in our elections so …
Hang on though, surely the Tories love Russian political donations. Why else have they been taking them for the last ten years?

Ernie The Smallholder
Ernie The Smallholder
2 years ago
Reply to  Llinos

They both run elections in the same way.
First-past-the-post gives the Tories absolute power in England and the UK as in Russia.

Grayham Jones
2 years ago

Only welsh people to vote in wales 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 not incomers kick all English party’s out of wales that’s the Tories Labour and all Brexit party’s it’s time for a new wales 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 start fighting for your children and grandchildren future in wales 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 we in wales have got to stop being little Englanders and be proud to be welsh

Llinos
Llinos
2 years ago

Somebody doesn’t want to share the Russian political donations he has been taking for years

hdavies15
hdavies15
2 years ago
Reply to  Llinos

My immediate response too. He wants it all for himself and worries that if the Russians decided that Drakeford or Price, or even ARTD, were a better return on their investment dear old Boris would be left penniless. It’s very stressful living off backhanders.

Gareth
Gareth
2 years ago

Now it all makes sense, I saw Mark Drakeford having a game of tennis last week, and thought, how strange. Johnson, you complete and utter gutter snipe, if the Tory party were clean, one could take these remarks, but considering the £13 million that we know about from Russians, you should keep that stupid mouth shut.

Erisian
Erisian
2 years ago

Cast iron pot … stainless steel kettle?

Quornby
Quornby
2 years ago

Is anyone still listening to this clown?

Denise
Denise
2 years ago
Reply to  Quornby

I hope that refers to Drakeford

Steve Duggan
Steve Duggan
2 years ago

Tories they make me laugh with their feeble efforts to degrade everything the Senedd does – do they feel threatened by its progressiveness?? Yes. The Senedd is not perfect but compared to the atrocious uncaring Tory government it’s a saint.

Cai Wogan Jones
Cai Wogan Jones
2 years ago

Breathtaking hypocrisy. Johnson has been accused of being a ‘threat to national security’ following reports he was at a Tory party fundraising event with his Kremlin friends on the night Vladimir Putin launched his invasion of Ukraine. Schmoozing with Lubov Chernukhin, the wife of a former Russian Finance Minister and major Tory Party donor! …

And yes, this is absolutely true.

Last edited 2 years ago by Cai Wogan Jones
thugee
thugee
2 years ago

honestly, boris is the best advert that welsh labour have got. everytime he opens his mouth drakeford’s approval ratings go up a notch. if the tories could find someone with some dignity and composure we’d all see welsh labour as the useless corporate stooges they are. but the tories continue to produce morons, corrupt buffoons, greedy putinist puppets, alan partridge-alikes, bigots, drooling golf club sex offenders, unlovable aristocratic, crawling cronies, and actual white supremacists, and the good voters of wales react appropriately.

Quornby
Quornby
2 years ago

Putin and Johnson are neck and neck for Liar of the Century at the oscars.

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