Tories urged to review £1.9m in donations

The Conservative Party is facing calls to review £1.9m in donations linked to a major energy project that is being held up by “significant” national security concerns.

Aquind Ltd, which hopes to build a £1.2bn electricty link between England and France, is run and owned by men who all have historic links to Russia.

They have been major donors to the Conservative Party, Tory MPs or Tory fundraising clubs since 2012.

In January, the Government paused the scheme after the Ministry of Defence (MoD) requested time to address “significant national security concerns”.

Aquind strongly rejects any allegations of national security concerns, describing them as “racist and xenophobic”.

Pat McFadden, Labour’s election campaign chair, said that if ministers are concerned by the background of Aquind’s directors and owners, then the Conservative Party should also look into the donations.

Aquind, which is part-owned by the Russian oil and gas tycoon Victor

Fedotov, has donated £700,000 to Conservative MPs since the Aquind project began.

The director, Alexander Temerko, and his son, Vladimir, have donated £749,000 to the Tory party as individuals. Mr Temerko Snr has given and a further £450,000 via an oil and gas engineering company he was once a director of called Offshore Group Newcastle.

Mr Temerko has maintained that he is a strong critic of Vladimir Putin and has regularly voiced his opposition to Russia’s war in Ukraine.

The former defence secretary Penny Mordaunt warned that the project would make Britain more reliant for its electricity on France.

A Conservative Party spokesperson said: “Donations are properly and transparently declared.”