Letter to the Electoral Commission: spending limits review (10 July 2026) (accessible version)
Published 17 July 2026
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Samantha Dixon MBE MP
Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Building Safety, Fire and Democracy
2 Marsham Street
London
SW1P 4DF
Vijay Rangarajan,
Chief Executive, Electoral Commission,
3 Bunhill Row,
London
EC1Y 8YZ
10 July 2026
Dear Vijay,
This government is committed to strengthening our democracy and upholding the integrity of our elections.
In December 2025, in light of the Nathan Gill case, and the deeply concerning evidence of Russian state-linked actors’ attempt to influence democracy in the UK, the Government appointed Philip Rycroft to lead an independent review into foreign financial interference in UK politics. The review set out to rigorously test the financial safeguards we currently have in place and recommend areas for improving mitigations. The Government has welcomed Philip Rycroft’s report and has accepted all of his recommendations, and ahead of Commons Report Stage, the Government has tabled amendments to the Representation of the People Bill to deliver key recommendations from the Review to further strengthen safeguards against foreign financial interference in UK politics.
In his report, Philip Rycroft argued that reducing spending limits could potentially relieve some of the fund-raising pressure, in turn diminishing the inducement to look to non-permissible sources to stay ahead. However, he refrained from making a recommendation believing it sat outside of his remit, noting it could be something that could be usefully debated during the passage of the Representation of the People Bill.
Party spending limits were raised significantly for the first time in 2023, and since then we have seen many stakeholders argue for lower limits, including Transparency International and Spotlight on Corruption.
Considering the concerns I have heard during the course of the Bill, and the wider views presented by Mr Rycroft and other stakeholders, I am of the opinion that an independent assessment is needed of the adequacy of the current spending limits in electoral law.
Under section 155 of the Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act 2000, Government currently has the power to amend spending limits, including for registered parties and Third-party campaigners (for reserved elections) via secondary legislation to give effect to a recommendation of the Electoral Commission. I would therefore like to ask the Commission to undertake a review of registered political party and Third-party Campaigner spending limits and provide recommendations to government.
We recognise that you will want to undertake a thorough review and engage widely, I therefore ask you provide recommendations to government by July 2027 at the latest, however given the strength of feeling of many, I would appreciate any early reporting. As the independent electoral regulator, the Commission are best placed to provide expert recommendations to Government.
Kind regards,
Samantha Dixon MBE MP
Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Building Safety, Fire and Democracy