Lib Dems push for ban on MPs taking money from X, citing Maga threat

The Liberal Democrats are pushing for a ban on MPs accepting payments from X as part of a proposed wider crackdown on what Ed Davey will call a “serious threat” to UK democracy from Donald Trump’s US and other countries. Announcing the plan on Tuesday, the Lib Dem leader renewed his attacks on Reform UK – a series of whose MPs have taken money from X – calling it “a franchise of Maga politics” rather than a British political entity. Under proposed amendments to the government’s representation of the people bill, now going through parliament, there would also be a ban on anyone who has served in a foreign administration donating to UK political parties, thinktanks or campaign groups. This follows a promise by the US state department to fund parties and thinktanks seen as aligned with Trump’s hard-right agenda, particularly in Europe. The now-defeated Hungarian government of Viktor Orbán also supplied money to a series of rightwing thinktanks and political figures, including in the UK. Speaking at a press conference in London on Wednesday afternoon, Davey warned that MPs receiving money from X was a way for the platform’s owner, Elon Musk – who has repeatedly endorsed far-right and racist ideas – to funnel money into the UK’s political system. Rupert Lowe, the former Reform MP who now leads Restore Britain, receives the most money from X, with the register of interests showing more than £37,000 in payments. …