A new report calls for a ban on political donors being considered for public contracts after finding 373 companies made a total of over £60 billion following their donations.
- 29 companies donated over £11 million to the Conservative Party, and were then, within two years, awarded contracts worth £2.3 billion while the party was in government (May 2015 to July 2024).
- 8 companies donated over £580,000 to the Labour Party and were awarded contracts totalling just under £138 million within the first year of the current Labour government (July 2024-June 2025).
Drawing on data from the Electoral Commission and the UK Government’s Contracts Finder service, ‘Givers and Takers’ identifies 373 firms that have both donated to the UK’s two political parties and been awarded public contracts whilst these parties were in government – labelled “givers and takers”.
This new research, launched exclusively today in the Guardian, finds that while over the last 25 years, around £47 million has been donated to the Labour and Conservative parties by ‘giver and taker’ companies, over £60 billion has been awarded to these same companies in the form of public contracts in the last decade alone. For every £1 donated, over £1,294 has therefore been given out in total to ‘giver and taker’ companies through public contracts.
Just under 10% of these ‘giver and taker’ companies (35 out of 373) were awarded a large UK government contract within two years of donating to a governing political party at Westminster.
29 of these companies donated just under £11 million to the Conservative Party, and were then, within two years, awarded contracts worth £2.3 billion while the party was in government between May 2015 and July 2024.
8 companies donated over £580,000 to the Labour Party and were then, within two years, awarded contracts totalling over £138 million within the first year of the current Labour government (July 2024-June 2025).
Two companies, Microsoft and PwC, maintained this reciprocal relationship with both Labour and the Tories.
With these findings raising fresh questions about the extent of corruption and favouritism on the UK’s democratic process, the report recommends:
- An immediate ban on public contracts for any company that has made a political donation in the previous decade.
- More real-time transparency for all donations over £500, with company numbers published alongside donor details
- Strengthened procurement transparency, reversing recent legal changes that have weakened public disclosure, particularly in defence and security sectors.
Dr. Will Stronge, Chief Executive at the Autonomy Institute said:
“When the same corporations that bankroll political parties also win government contracts, the line between public service and private influence becomes dangerously blurred. The only way to alleviate concerns about favouritism and corruption is a ban on political donors receiving government contracts.”
Chris Hinchliff, MP for North East Hertfordshire said:
“It is little surprise voters are fed up when it so often feels like our politics is for sale. From developer lobbyists riding roughshod over local democracy to businesses on the inside track making a killing from public contracts, wealth too often equals power in the UK.”
“Big firms don’t donate out of friendship – they do it for influence, and this research suggests it has been paid back in spades. This must spark a wider conversation about who our politics serves. We’re stuck in a doomloop: billionaires grow richer, mega-corporations score record profits, and as their coffers swell, so does their political influence – all while life gets harder, household bills soar, and our environment gets trashed.”
“Autonomy’s recommendations are a sensible step toward ridding our politics of the corrosive power of big-money donors.”
