While Reform may be very gleeful right now over the £72million in donations they have secured from two crypto billionaires, it turns out that they could face an investigation from the elections watchdog over the cash given to them.

HuffPost UK reports that Labour MP Phil Brickell has asked the Electoral Commission to clarify whether Ben Delo and Christopher Harborne’s donations are permissible. Harborne and Delo donated £36m each to the party in the space of just 24 hours at the weekend. Questions have been raised over whether the donations are legal and if they would have to be returned.

Even before the current donations to Reform, the government was already looking at tightening the rules following the Rycroft Review into foreign financial influence. The government then said it would introduce a £100,000 annual cap on donations from overseas electors.

Delo has moved back to the UK from Hong Kong, while Harborne is now registered to vote in Hampshire, although it is unclear whether he still lives in Thailand.

Now it turns out that the Electoral Commission could investigate Reform over the donations too after Labour MP Phil Brickell wrote to them.

The HuffPost reports: “Brickell, who is chair of the all-party parliamentary group on anti-corruption, said: “The British public deserve complete confidence that all political donations are lawful, transparent and come with no strings attached.”

In a letter to Electoral Commission chief executive Dr Vijay Rangarajan, seen by HuffPost UK, Brickell says “it appears very likely that both donors were still registered overseas on – and for some time after – March 25, 2026”.

He added: “I would therefore be very grateful for swift clarification from the Electoral Commission on whether you see grounds for opening an investigation into the permissibility of the two £36m donations.”

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Germany’s far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) has pledged to remove disabled and refugee children from mainstream schools in Saxony-Anhalt if it wins the state election on September 6, prompting warnings that its education policy would institutionalise discrimination and deepen social division.

The AfD’s election manifesto declares that the “inclusion experiment has failed and must be ended” and proposes a fundamental overhaul of the state’s education system. Among its plans is an expansion of special schools for children with disabilities, effectively reversing Germany’s move towards educating children with and without disabilities together.

The proposal goes further by seeking to place refugee children in separate educational settings. The party says this would “reinforce the message that their stay in Germany is only temporary.”

Rather than treating education as a means of integration and equal opportunity, the policy frames refugee children primarily through their immigration status. Critics argue that separating children on the basis of whether they are refugees, risks turning schools into instruments of exclusion rather than places where children can participate equally in society.

The AfD also wants to prevent Islamic education from being offered in schools, arguing that “Islam is not part of Germany” and that providing such education would be “virtually impossible” at a reasonable cost.

The proposals have drawn criticism from political opponents, who warn that the party’s approach would create a two-tier education system.

Conrad Clemens, Saxony’s minister of education, told local media: “The idea of putting foreigners and students with disabilities in separate classes leads to a dangerous division in the classroom. Such ideas are unacceptable for our education system.”

The AfD’s education proposals form part of a wider programme that seeks to challenge Germany’s approach to immigration and its relationship with Russia. The party has called for greater provision of Russian language teaching and the reinstatement of school exchanges with Russia, arguing that current policies towards Russia are “not in Germany’s interests.”

The proposals are particularly contentious given the AfD’s political standing in Saxony-Anhalt.

Ulrich Siegmund, the party’s leading candidate in the state, is regarded as one of its more hardline figures. The state’s chapter of the AfD has been classified as “right-wing extremist” by the Office for the Protection of the Constitution, Germany’s domestic intelligence agency.

The agency has raised concerns about the party’s understanding of citizenship and its emphasis on ethnic identity, arguing that elements of the AfD’s political programme are incompatible with Germany’s constitutional principles.

Opponents have also warned about the potential consequences of an AfD-led state government for public institutions and national security. Concerns have included the handling of sensitive and classified information if the party were to gain control of government departments.

Germany has spent decades developing an education system intended to accommodate children with different needs and backgrounds. The AfD’s proposals would represent a move in the opposite direction, replacing integration with separation.

That has also raised the prospect of legal challenges if the party enters government and attempts to implement the measures. Any such programme would have to contend with Germany’s constitutional protections, including principles of equality and human dignity.

Recent polling has put the AfD in a strong position ahead of the September 6 election, raising the prospect that proposals once confined to the political fringe could become government policy.

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Labour won a council seat off Reform UK in Merseyside yesterday, while the Greens took a seat off the Conservatives in Dover.

Labour’s Steve Owen beat the Reform candidate to win Billinge and Seneley Green ward in St Helens. 

The by-election was triggered by Reform councillor Jennifer Gerrard stepping down for “personal reasons” just two months after she was elected on 7 May.

Reform took control of St Helens Borough Council in May, winning 33 out of 48 seats. However, within two months of the local elections, Gerrard and another councillor had already resigned.

The first to resign was Stephen Mousdell. He resigned within a week of being elected, after it emerged that he had appeared in adult films and on OnlyFans under a different alias. 

In Dover, the Greens’ Ingrid Dodd won the Guston, Kingsdown and St Margaret’s-at-Cliffe by-election yesterday. 

Online, Reform figures are complaining that Restore Britain allowed the Greens to win.

The by-election was a three-way fight on the Right, with the Conservatives, Restore Britain and Reform UK all standing candidates.

The breakdown of votes was as follows:

Green Party – 767

Reform UK: 733

Conservatives: 456

Labour Party: 389 

Restore Britain: 284

Independent: 35

George Madgwick, a Reform councillor in Portsmouth, bemoaned Reform’s failure to take the council seat, writing: “WOW.@RupertLowe10 and his Restore Group just stood against Reform UK in Dover and allowed – on the same day hundreds of migrants arrived on our shores – the GREENS to win the very local council seat where migrants land.

“Vote Restore – Get Greens. Shameful. Wake up Britain.”

Former Reform parliamentary candidate, Matt Goodwin, also complained about the result.

He said: “The Right vote in Dover last night was 55%. But the Greens won. Why? Because Restore and the Tories handed the seat to the Left. This is what they will do in countless seats at the next general election. Vote Restore get the Left.”

Reacting to their win in Dover, a Green Party spokesperson said: “We’re delighted that Ingrid Dodd, a local retired GP, has been elected to Dover district council. While the right fall over themselves to score political points and see who can say the nastiest thing that day, Greens are focused on the issues that matter – bringing down the cost of living, tackling the climate emergency and ending rip-off Britain.”

Olivia Barber is a reporter at Left Foot Forward

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Labour has won two seats from Reform in yesterday’s Thurrock council by-elections, which were triggered by Reform councillor resigning.

Amin Hoque was declared as the Labour new councillor for Grays Town ward, and Labour candidate Jo Potter was elected in Grays Riverside. 

The former Reform councillors for these wards, Joe Soper and Marc Stanley were elected on 7 May, but resigned just two weeks later citing personal reasons. 

Reform won 45 of the 49 seats on Thurrock Council in the May elections. Following the two by-election defeats, the party now holds 43 seats on the council.

Reacting to the the result, Rob Ford, professor of political science at the University of Manchester, wrote on X: “Gaining two seats from Reform? In Thurrock? Not bad as first council by-election results for a new PM go.”

Luke Tryl, director at think tank and polling firm More in Common, also commented: “Obviously important not to read too much into individual council by elections, but Labour will be pleased to start by winning two seats from Reform in an area that has proven particularly tricky for them in past 18 months.”

Olivia Barber is a reporter at Left Foot Forward

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