The Green Ribbon

Aquind decision highlights growing scrutiny of Russian donors

I noted earlier this week that the opposition was attempting to make an issue of Russian donations to the Conservative Party in Monday's parliamentary debate on foreign political interference.

Labour attempted this previously in the wake of the Skripal affair, but with the party's Atlanticist right in the ascendant, Boris Johnson weakened and a crisis in Ukraine, it may get more traction than it did four years ago.

Thursday's decision by business secretary Kwasi Kwarteng to reject the Aquind cross-channel electricity interconnector could be one sign of this.

Foreign influence debate strengthens case for donor transparency

Following last week's MI5 alert about an alleged Chinese interference operation at Westminster, Home Secretary Priti Patel made a statement to the Commons on Monday on foreign interference in British politics.

Patel told MPs that such alerts would be more common in future, and "we are developing new national security legislation to make it even harder for states to conduct malign activity. We are also taking further steps to protect the integrity of our democracy by tackling electoral fraud and preventing foreign interference in elections through the Elections Bill."

While even some Conservative MPs regard the electoral fraud measures as misconceived, the Elections Bill does include measures to restrict foreign campaign funding. However, several opposition MPs suggested these did not go far enough.