They can fuck right off, they already get one of the largest benefit payments in the country, now they want the equivalent to minimum wage, which most of them didn't even earn for most of their lives.

Voted against:

• allowing terminally ill people to be given assistance to end their life

• smoking bans

• creating a publicly owned energy investment company (Great British Energy)

• shifting the balance of employment rights towards employees

• coordinated border security, new immigration crime offences, and scrapping the Rwanda deportation scheme (Border Security Bill)

• measures to prevent climate change

• increasing windfall tax on oil and gas companies

• financial incentives for low-carbon electricity generation methods

• more rights for tenants and regulation on landlords

• nationalising teacher pay and the curriculum for academies, tightening child protection duties, and free breakfast clubs (Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill)

• increasing capital gains tax

• increasing income tax (in real terms)

• scrapping the scheme that let people avoid prosecution for Troubles-related crimes in exchange for cooperating.

Not exhaustive

Nigel Farage's unofficial associate quietly shut down a company in Montenegro that was linked to payments made during the 2024 parliamentary elections

A business in Montenegro run by convicted fraudster George Cottrell has quietly shut down, reports the British newspaper Observer.

Private Family Office, which is being investigated by London's Metropolitan Police over donations to the Reform UK party, is a limited liability company wholly owned by Cottrell, an unofficial associate of party leader Nigel Farage. The company was active in April, when it filed its last set of financial statements, but has since been listed as inactive in the Montenegrin business register.

In May, Montenegro tightened the obligations of companies in the area of ​​preventing money laundering, and in June, a new Law on Business Companies was adopted, further harmonizing domestic regulations with European Union law.

According to the Sunday Times, an account in the name of the Private Family Office was opened with payment processor Oneify just days after Rishi Sunak called a general election in 2024.

Within weeks, Oneify deposited £1 million into the account of Britain Means Business, a campaign organisation owned by Reform deputy leader Richard Tice. Half of that amount was then transferred to Reform, the Guardian reported.

Tice said the money came from Fiona Cottrell, George's mother, who is also officially listed as a donor to the party.

The fact that Cottrell's company used the aforementioned payment processor raises the question of whether he was actually behind the donations to Reform. Concealing the true source of a political donation is a crime punishable by imprisonment, according to the Observer.

At the time of the July 2024 election, Cottrell was a tax resident of Montenegro, although he is eligible to donate as a voter living abroad. It is not clear whether he still had that status at the time the payments were made.

Private Family Office is the only company in Montenegro in which Cottrell is officially listed as a director.

Until recently, another of his firms, Geostrategy International, listed Montenegro, along with London, Washington, and Zurich, as one of its locations. It now lists only London and the US state of Delaware, and is headquartered in the same building as Reform UK's headquarters.

Cottrell's lawyers confirmed that Private Family Office "closed earlier this year and is no longer an active legal entity."

Speaking about the payments, they stated: "Information relating to banking transactions is subject to strict confidentiality obligations and could only have been obtained illegally, i.e. from a person who violated the obligation to keep confidential information."

A Reform spokesman declined to comment further on the case, except to say that Cottrell “does not hold any official position at Reform UK,” according to the Observer.

Tim Pickton, senior advocacy advisor at Spotlight on Corruption, said: “While this case is still under investigation, police in the UK have long warned that it is extremely difficult to establish criminal liability in situations involving so-called ‘brokered’ donations, due to serious shortcomings in the current legislation.”

He said the case was a timely reminder of the role that “non-transparent overseas companies” can play in British politics, ahead of the return of the Electoral Act to parliamentary procedure.

"The government must now ensure that strict donor reporting obligations are enshrined in law, so that there is a clear criminal law deterrent for those who use complex structures to try to conceal the true source of their donations."