Low donations reflect leader Nigel Farage’s difficulty in capitalising on party’s political momentum and polling lead

Reform UK secured less than £1mn in new funding in the first quarter of this year, a smaller figure than previously known, as the party struggles to expand its donor base beyond a handful of longtime backers.

Headline figures for political donations suggested Reform pulled in close to £1.5mn in the first three months of 2025, but £613,000 of that figure reflected the conversion of historic loans into donations, the party said.

The loans were from Tisun Investments Limited, a company owned by Richard Tice, Reform’s deputy leader and one of its five MPs, who has for years been a primary funding source for the rightwing populist party.

Reform UK raised even less in new funding than headline figures suggest, Anna Gross and Cynthia O’Murchu in London, ft.com