Companies that donated to Labour awarded £138m in contracts, study finds | Party funding
Companies that recently donated to Labor were awarded contracts worth around £138 million in the party’s first year in government, according to new research that raises new concerns about the relationship between political donations and public spending.
A report by think tank the Autonomy Institute identified more than 100 companies that gave money to political parties and then won government contracts under both Conservative and Labor administrations.
The study follows a previous investigation by the Guardian which revealed how companies linked to Tory donors have been given billions of dollars in public funds since 2016.
New analysis shows this pattern continued under Labour; Eight companies donated more than £580,000 to the party and subsequently received government contracts worth around £138 million in the two years after their donations (between July 2024 and June 2025).
Looking beyond a two-year period, the think tank found that 25 companies linked to the Labor Party had won contracts worth £796.43 million since 2001.
Spotlight on Corruption’s chief executive, Dr. Susan Hawley said: “There is nothing more damaging to public confidence than the perception that those with privileged access to those in power have privileged access to taxpayer-funded contracts.
“These findings show that there is a systemic problem with the UK’s absurdly poor handling of conflicts of interest. It should lead to systemic solutions that include real consideration of excluding political donors and their companies from the procurement process and banning corporate executives or companies receiving public contracts from making political donations.”
The Autonomy Institute identified a total of 125 companies that received central government contracts worth £28.8 billion after previously donating £30.15 million to a political party. Around £2.5bn of these contracts were signed within two years of the donation.
These include consultancy Baringa Partners, which donated £30,061.50 to Labor in January 2024 and received government contracts worth £35,196,719 between July 2024 and March this year. Grant Thornton donated £81,658.37 between March 2023 and July 2024 and has since won £6,541,819 in contracts.
But the bulk of the contracts (£25.4bn) were awarded to Conservative donors under previous Conservative governments. These include Randox Laboratories and Globus Shetland, both of which were offered contracts during the Covid outbreak.
A Conservative Party spokesman said the party was funded by membership, fundraising and donations declared to the Electoral Commission and was fully compliant with the law. They said the alternative would be “more taxpayer funding or being in the pockets of union barons like the current government”.
They added: “As the National Audit Office and Cabinet Office internal audit makes clear, ministers accurately declared their interest and were not involved in procurement decisions in any way. The donations never had any impact on government contracts.”
President of the Autonomy Institute, Dr. Will Stronge said: “The line between public service and private influence becomes dangerously blurred when the same companies that fund political parties also win government contracts. The only way to alleviate concerns about cronyism and corruption is for political donors to be banned from winning government contracts.”
The study also identified four of the government’s 39 “strategic suppliers” (companies with which it has significant affiliations) that donated to political parties and then received contracts: Fujitsu, KPMG, Microsoft and PwC. Microsoft and PwC had donated to and received contracts from both Labor and the Conservative Party.
Ahead of the 2024 elections, the Labor Party had harshly criticized the awarding of contracts to Conservative Party-affiliated companies without competitive tendering during the pandemic. The then shadow chancellor, Rachel Reeves, said: “The British public are understandably still angry that so much money from the public purse is going to friends and donors of the Conservative Party.”
PwC said in a statement: “We consider requests for non-cash support from the main political parties – secondary parties providing limited, technical assistance, often under strict confidentiality and governance regulations. We have no political affiliation.”
KPMG declined to comment. Labor and all other companies mentioned were contacted for comment but received no response.
The study included the projected value of future contracts; This means the full £28.8bn has not yet been spent. It also focused solely on corporate donors, not individuals donating in their own names.
