Keir Starmer under pressure as Lisa Nandy publishes list of donors to her leadership campaign
2 min read
Keir Starmer is under pressure to reveal who is financing his Labour leadership campaign after Lisa Nandy joined Rebecca Long-Bailey in publishing a list of her donors.
Ms Nandy has received around £170,000 in cash donations, including £25,000 from the GMB union and £5,000 from John Mills, founder of the pro-Brexit Labour Leave campaign.
The Wigan MP revealed all those who had given her more than £1,500 after Ms Long-Bailey had done the same.
It has also emerged that the Young Labour campaign group has written to all three candidates calling on them to reveal their financial backers.
In their letter, passed to PoliticsHome, they said: "Our members have a right to transparency from the candidates who are appealing for their votes.
"We are therefore asking each candidate for the leadership to release information about all of their donations over £1,500 today.
"Releasing this information only after the election concludes prevents members from being able to make informed decisions and undermines our party’s commitment to transparent, democratic processes."
Speaking at the Oxford Union on Wednesday, Unite boss Len McCluskey, whose union has given Ms Long-Bailey £200,000 for her campaign, said: "Trust in politics and politicians is essential, which is why it is really important that all the leadership candidates declare where their campaign money comes from.
"In the Labour Party there should be no secret financiers sitting in the shadows."
Asked on ITV's Peston show on Wednesday who was funding his campaign, Sir Keir said: "There are very strict rules. The Electoral Commission and the Parliamentary rules require you to register all your funding and then to publish it and that's what we've been doing.
"My first tranche went up on the Parliamentary website a few weeks ago. The next tranche, we've given it to the Parliamentary authorities .. they're checking it's all in order and it's going up as soon as they give it the green light."
The row comes as Labour Party members, registered supporters and affiliates begin voting in the leadership contest..
According to the YouGov poll, Sir Keir is on course to receive 53% of first preference, enough to guarantee him victory on the first round of counting.
Rebecca Long-Bailey is in second place on 31%, with Lisa Nandy on 16%.
The result will be announced at a special conference on 4 April.
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