Labour donor could be expelled over Ukip payment

LABOUR’s biggest individual donor faces being thrown out of the party after he was linked to an £18,500 payment to Ukip.

John Mills has donated almost £2million to Labour. Iain McNicol, Labour’s general secretary, has written to the 78-year-old businessman, a party member since 1961, asking him to explain the Ukip “donation”.

Labour Leave, an organisation chaired by Mr Mills which campaigned for Brexit, paid £18,500 to the rival political party three days before the referendum on June 20 last year.

The payment was reported to Labour officials by Seb Dance, a Labour MEP. In his letter of complaint, he wrote: “Labour Leave have claimed that the payments were a contribution to the administrative costs of shared referendum events.

“However, this explanation is insufficient and serious questions arise from the donation being paid directly into Ukip’s own account, rather than the account of dedicated referendum campaigning groups such as Vote Leave or Grassroots Out.”

Mr Dance alleged in his complaint that Mr Mills had seemingly breached Labour Party rules which make it “ineligible” for party members to support another political organisation.

Mr Dance concluded in his letter to Mr McNichol: “I would ask you as a matter of urgency to investigate this payment and take the necessary action against any Labour Party members who have been complicit in directly funding our political opponents.” Mr Mills yesterday dismissed the row as a “storm in a teacup”.

He said: “I can understand Seb Dance being upset because he is an MEP and when we come out of the European Union he won’t have his position any more.

“But what happened was Labour Leave, of which I was the chair, shared the cost of rallies in the run-up to the referendum with Ukip.

“It was all declared. Nobody tried to hide anything. Ukip incurred the cost of staging the rallies and Labour Leave contributed a share of that.”

Mr Mills said he consulted the Electoral Commission about the payment and was advised to record it as a “donation”.

Mr McNichol wrote to Mr Mills on Wednesday, requesting evidence of the advice given by the Electoral Commission. The row is the latest to hit Labour after dissent over the Brexit vote.

In a separate development, Jeremy Corbyn yesterday pledged to “unleash the economic potential of the north” while outlining plans for new rail links.