Britain16 March, 20263 min read
Met Police Investigate Richard Tice Company Payments to Reform UK Ahead of 2024 Election
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Metropolitan Police investigate Britain Means Business donations to Reform UK. Two £250,000 donations, totaling £500,000, were made before the 2024 general election.
Met probes Reform donations
Britain’s Metropolitan police are investigating payments to Reform UK made via a company controlled by the party’s deputy leader, Richard Tice, with Scotland Yard scrutinising two donations of £250,000 made to the party by Britain Means Business in the weeks before the 2024 general election. The BBC says Britain Means Business gave Reform UK two donations of £250,000 in the run-up to the 2024 general election, when Tice was party chairman, and that the payments came to light when the Guardian newspaper revealed they had been flagged to the National Crime Agency as part of its Suspicious Activity Reports programme.
The BBC also reports that Britain Means Business, which is solely owned and controlled by Tice, received £1m from Fiona Cottrell in June 2024 and then donated a total of £500,000 to Reform UK in the same month, according to disclosures to the Electoral Commission. The Met’s statement, repeated to the BBC, says: "An investigation was launched in February 2025 after a referral was made to the Metropolitan police by the Electoral Commission" and that detectives are investigating alleged offences under section 61 of the Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act 2000.
Tice disputes smear claims
Richard Tice told the BBC, "This is the first I have heard of it - if true why are the Met Police briefing the BBC before contacting interested parties?" as the probe focuses on whether donations received by Reform UK may have amounted to "the evasion of restrictions on donations". The i Paper says the police probe is looking into alleged offences that could involve money from an "impermissible" donor or using "false information" about the donation and where it came from, and it places the two Britain Means Business payments on 10 June and 12 June.
The BBC reports that the Met investigation into all four donations has been ongoing for more than a year and that the party was not aware of the investigation into the payments from Britain Means Business. Reform UK’s spokesman told the BBC, "Reform takes pride in its stringent vetting of donations and always ensures that the Electoral Commission guidelines on donations" are followed, as the Met’s special enquiry team continues interviewing people under caution with no arrests made.
Account freeze and fallout
The BBC reports that all four payments were made in the weeks before the general election on 4 July 2024, when Farage and Tice were first elected to Parliament, and that records on the Electoral Commission’s website show Reform’s bank account was frozen in the weeks before the election. The BBC says the account was first frozen a maximum of nine days after Britain Means Business’s second donation, and it adds that it is not known why the account was frozen.
The Guardian reports that the investigation is scrutinising payments made to the party via a company controlled by Tice’s deputy-leader role and that Fiona Cottrell’s £1m transfer to Britain Means Business was revealed earlier by The Guardian shortly before the donations were made. The BBC adds that the Met repeated its February 2025 statement to the BBC and that "two people have so far been interviewed under caution" with no arrests made, leaving the inquiry’s next step tied to the outcome of those interviews and the ongoing investigation into alleged offences under section 61.