Labour calls on Tories to give back £5m in Russian donations

Labour has called on the Conservative party to give back £5m of Russian-linked donations it has received in the past 10 years.

Shadow foreign secretary David Lammy and shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves today also called on the government to crackdown on dirty money being laundered through the City of London.

The government has warned President Vladimir Putin that it will hit large Russian businesses and Kremlin-linked oligarchs with tough financial sanctions if he invades Ukraine.

This would potentially cut off billions of pounds coming into the City and would help slow the so-called London laundromat.

London has a global reputation as a hub for money laundering by organised crime and crooked foreign governments.

Lammy told Sky News the government should be more proactive and start the crackdown immediately, while also handing back the £5m in donations from British-Russian dual nationals.

“Many of those individuals made money under Putin’s regime and if you go back to the break-up of the Soviet Union, taking over what were previously national industries,” he said.

“The Times today is reporting the sons and daughters of people linked to Putin buying property here in London. It’s against that backdrop that it’s wrong to change our election law to say that you can have limitless donations. Of course it’s important that we are completely above board and any money associated with Vladimir Putin and his regime should be given back.”

A Conservative Party spokesman said: “The Conservative Party only accepts donations from permissible sources, namely individuals registered on the UK’s electoral roll or UK registered companies.

“Donations are transparently declared to the Electoral Commission and openly published by them.”