Margot Mollat

Graphic with text: National Meeting: Taking action to end fossil fuel lobbying in politics. 7-8.30pm, Wednesday 29th October. Edinburgh and online with The Ferret and Transparency UK. Photo of people protesting for a fossil free parliament with the Big Ben clock and a lampost in the background.

Fossil fuel companies have an oily grip on our politics 🤝

On Wed 29th Oct, we'll discuss taking action to end fossil fuel lobbying in politics with Paul Dobson @theferret.scot & Juliet Swann & Rose Whiffen from @transparencyuk.bsky.social

Join us in Edinburgh/online: act.foe.scot/nat_meeting_...

Breaking Big Money’s Grip on Politics – Big Give In 2023 66% of donations to political parties came from just 19 donors. Increasingly, our politics is funded by a small number of super donors. We seek support to make sure those with the deepest poc...

For the next week, if you donate to
@transparencyuk.bsky.social
we get DOUBLE THE MONEY! What a great deal!
If you think tackling corruption & pushing for better standards in political life is important, do consider donating. I'd appreciate it 💓
donate.biggive.org/campaign/a05...

Friends, if you are worried about declining trust in politics, corruption, and vested interest - do consider donating to support Transparency International's work investigating and campaigning for a world free of corruption!

Delighted to be speaking in Aberdeen on Sunday! Do come along.

WHO PAYS, WHO DECIDES? BIG MONEY IN BRITISH POLITICS

📆Monday, 4.30pm | Nova Scotia | Liverpool

Join our Director of Policy, @duncanhames.bsky.social, @liambyrnemp.bsky.social, @suehawley.bsky.social & @edhodgsoned.bsky.social to hear about big money's influence on our democracy.

🚨 BREAKING: UKACC has arrived at the Labour Party conference, and the new chair of the @appgonacrt.bsky.social, @philbrickellmp.bsky.social is ready to get to work.

Come and find us at our events across Liverpool: ukanticorruptioncoalition.org/labour

Political donation caps are needed to tackle deepening political inequality - British Politics and Policy at LSE The Government has to limit the individual donation amounts allowed and cap campaign spending by political parties.

Wealthy donors are increasingly fudning political campaigns, eroding the public’s trust in the political process. The Government has the opportunity to reverse that trend, argues Rose Whiffen of @anticorruption.bsky.social.

blogs.lse.ac.uk/politicsandp...

🆕: Leaders from the anti-corruption space have written to the new Deputy Prime Minister David Lammy MP and new Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper MP, urging them to continue the UK’s leadership on illicit finance and commit to hosting the upcoming international summit.

Read our letters below:

Unlocking Ownership Data Guidelines for implementing meaningful access to beneficial ownership data in the UK's offshore financial centres

🚨 NEW: My first long piece of policy research at @transparencyuk.bsky.social is out. *Unlocking ownership data* is a blueprint for ending financial secrecy in British offshore centres.

🔗 www.transparency.org.uk/publications...

Wondering what the new money laundering threats are in this new digital age? Read our @bcowdock.bsky.social's blog on the Government's new risk assessment here.

Take Big Money Out of Our Politics British politics is awash with money from super rich donors. In 2023, two-thirds of all private donations came from just 19 people. These so-called ‘mega donors’ enjoy privileged access to political p...

The government's electoral finance changes are welcome—but it will still be far too easy to make foreign cash look British, and dirty money look clean.

We need a cap on donations so that no billionaire can buy our politics. Sign the petition here:

you.38degrees.org.uk/petitions/ta...

We are extremely concerned to see the worsening humanitarian situation in Gaza, where more than 100 international aid organisations and human rights groups are warning of mass starvation. We have colleagues at AMAN-Transparency Palestine (Transparency International Palestine) who remain in Gaza with their families and are experiencing chronic hunger and dehydration, in unimaginably dire conditions.. As a global movement committed to fighting for a world without corruption, we believe that everyone has the right to be treated with dignity and to live safely and freely in their country. We stand with our colleagues across the region and support calls for an immediate ceasefire, the opening of all land crossings, and the free and safe flow of humanitarian aid through UN-led mechanisms. We are also appealing for the urgent release of all remaining hostages.

We are extremely concerned to see the worsening humanitarian situation in Gaza, where more than 100 international aid organisations and human rights groups are warning of mass starvation.

The quality of the food we put in our bodies should be the number one concern of a Government hoping to make us healthier, cut NHS waiting list, and restore productivity.

But they’re doing the opposite. Wonder who’s been lobbying Labour.

Election finance and donor caps There are good foundations on improved electoral finance laws in the strategy. A key improvement is much stronger regulation of unincorporated associations: creating Know Your Donor requirements, and bringing the transparency thresholds into line with donations to parties and candidates. These transparency thresholds are too high (and have gotten higher), but this is an area that could (and should) be redressed through a statutory instrument at a later point. What this strategy does not go near is the idea of donation caps to limit the power of large donors. As we explored on our Beyond Transparency report, a key blocker in this area is both the comparative lack of public funding of elections in the UK compared to European and Anglophone countries, and a belief that public opinion is an obstacle to a move in that direction (public funding is not popular on its own, but the status quo is also deeply unpopular). In the spirit of “what is the work needed now to enable change by the end of the Parliament”, our key recommendation is that either government or civil society actors convene a citizens’ forum/assembly to further unblock this line of argument by creating a better understanding of how the public approach trade-offs in this area. There is good reason to believe that, while exactly what it looks like might be open to debate, increased levels of public funding are possible, enabling donor caps and restricting the uneven influence of wealth on elections. In the absence of this, we are unlikely to make substantial progress within this parliament. We need well-developed answers to the “how are we going to pay for elections then?” question — and to be building those answers now.

Obvs everyone's disappointed they're not just hitting the "ban big donors" button - but this fits into my argument that they're not going to do that spontaneously, the useful work from the outside is trying to make an exit ramp through public funding www.mysociety.org/2025/07/22/e...

UK to introduce standards regime to fine ministers over post-office jobs breaches ‘Essentially toothless’ watchdog Acoba to be replaced by Ethics and Integrity Commission

"It is unclear how the new financial penalties will be enforced and there are no changes to the rules on the revolving door, which urgently need strengthening"

Our thoughts on the Government's new ethics announcements in the @financialtimes.com ⬇️

www.ft.com/content/0ff2...

Improving the effectiveness of the Money Laundering Regulations This consultation considers changes to improve the Money Laundering Regulations while minimising burdens on legitimate customers.

🎉Big win: the Government has just announced new transparency requirements for offshore trusts owning homes in the UK.

There's still work to do to make that data accessible, but we're a step closer to knowing the real owners of UK properties 🔍🏠

www.gov.uk/government/c...

The billionaire and the tax evading gift shops Asif Aziz's Criterion Capital manages a row of high-profile shops at Piccadilly Circus. So why does his team keeping renting them to students who vanish without paying millions of pounds in taxes?

He's one of Britain's richest men. So why does Asif Aziz's property company keep leasing London gift shops to overseas students based in abandoned offices or flytipped car parks — before vanishing without paying millions of pounds in taxes? www.londoncentric.media/p/asf-aziz-l...

New ethics commission welcome, but stronger rules - backed in law - are needed.

Government plans for a new Ethics Commission are welcome, but without laws that enshrines the existence of the Ministerial Code of Conduct, ministerial standards will still rely on the ‘good chaps’ theory of government.

Our full statement 👇
www.transparency.org.uk/news/new-eth...

Today, the Government released their long-awaited Strategy for Modern and Secure Elections. Out experts outline some of the key provisions in the White Paper and talk through what’s missing ⬇️

Armed police threatened to arrest Kent protester for holding Palestinian flag Officers accused Laura Murton who also had a sign saying ‘Free Gaza’ of supporting a proscribed organisation

While you should be careful of reading too much into the over-reach of individual police officers, the suggestion that protesting at the Gaza war is “expressing an opinion or belief which is supportive of proscribed organisation” is quite something.

www.theguardian.com/world/2025/j...

It’s astounding that a sitting MP — and former Prime Minister — can simultaneously work as an advisor to a major bank.

Roles like this carry at high risk of being used for (illegal) lobbying activity or of conflicting with parliamentary duties.

Nearly every trail of dirty money leads to a shell company in the British Virgin Islands or another UK-linked financial centre.

It’s time for the UK to end the corporate secrecy in its Overseas Territories that enables global financial crime.

British overseas territories miss final deadline to crack down on ‘dirty money’ Island havens accused of ‘defying the will of parliament’ after failing to initiate corporate transparency measures

🚨BREAKING

Multiple British Overseas Territories just missed their deadline to expose the £billions being stashed away in secret offshore accounts by super rich tax dodgers, corporates, and criminals.

This is the third such deadline they’ve missed. 1/4
www.theguardian.com/business/202...

🚨 ⏰ ❌ Last night, the British Virgin Islands failed to meet its own deadline for opening up its corporate registers.

🖋️ ✉️ So our Chair @joepowell.bsky.social led a group of MPs in sending a letter to the BVI Premier this morning. This follows a letter we sent 5 months ago.
1/2

Here's a nice and cringey video of me trying to explain what the heck is going on in the UK's offshore financial centres & what the Government should do about it. 🕵️‍♀️💵🌴

British offshore centres pledged over six years ago to reveal company owners — but still haven't delivered.

These delays keep the UK’s backdoor open to dirty money and clash with David Lammy’s pledge to end the ‘golden age of money laundering’.

If you're curious about how dark money makes it into the UK's political system & what to do about it, do read this explainer from my amazing colleague @rosewhiff.bsky.social 👇

The BVI’s plan for its company register ‘not compatible’ with global transparency efforts, warn anti-corruption campaigners

The BVI’s grey listing should have prompted more transparency efforts - but instead its proposal for corporate registers falls woefully short of international standards and previous commitments.

Our statement 👉 www.transparency.org.uk/news/bvis-pl...

NCA freezes £170m of UK property belonging to ally of ousted Bangladesh leader Saifuzzaman Chowdhury’s assets frozen as authorities in Dhaka investigate alleged corruption of former regime

Incredible impact from the investigation led by @bcowdock.bsky.social, @stevejgoodrich.bsky.social and the @theguardian.com, which identified millions worth of properties owned by allies of the former Bangladeshi PM.

The NCA has now frozen most of these.

www.theguardian.com/world/2025/j...

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