Andy Burnham has officially dropped his support for capping political donations, a move that has activists and Labour MPs reaching for the smelling salts and trade union backers popping the champagne. The prime minister, it seems, has decided not to back amendments to the elections bill that would limit how much a person or organisation can throw at a single donation, according to government sources.
The decision comes after a lobbying blitz from Labour's trade union friends, who warned that the amendments - set to return to parliament next week - could cramp their style when it comes to bankrolling the party. It's also a swift retreat from Burnham's position just a few weeks ago, when he emailed campaigner Shaun Bowler to pledge support for a £500,000 cap.
Stella Creasy, the Labour backbencher who tabled an amendment for a donations cap, was not amused. "Millionaires are increasingly treating British politics as their plaything - splashing the cash to get the outcome they want and the next election as their cup final," she fumed. "The public won't forgive us if we miss this chance to clean up Westminster because we are squabbling with each other."
Bowler, the man who received Burnham's May promise, was equally unimpressed. "Andy Burnham promised me a proper cap on political donations and a 'wholesale culture change' in Westminster. If his government now refuses to back a donations cap, then he has broken the promise he made to me - and to voters," he said, adding that "large political donations are not democratic. They create influence, whether politicians want to admit it or not."
Darren Hughes, chief executive of the Electoral Reform Society, chimed in: "Huge donations have a corrosive effect on trust in politics as they leave the public wondering what donors expect in return for their money. A donations cap is a crucial step to ending the impression that our politics is for sale to the highest bidder."
But a Labour source defended the retreat, saying the elections bill "has been designed to deliver our manifesto commitments on votes at 16 and strengthen political donation rules to guard against foreign interference and that's what the government is prioritising."
The bill, which returns to the Commons next week, is already one of the most hotly contested of Burnham's early tenure. It aims to lower the voting age to 16 and limit foreign donations, but many in the party think it's too timid. Rushanara Ali, a Labour MP who helped draft the bill, recently called it "incremental" and urged Burnham to beef it up.
Some MPs are planning to use the next stage to push for a ban on cryptocurrency donations and a crackdown on social media misinformation. Others want Burnham to back a national commission on changing the voting system - something he's supported in the past.
The government has already said it will cap donations from Brits abroad at £100,000, but a domestic cap is now looking as likely as a politician admitting they were wrong.
In May, Burnham told Bowler he'd back a £500,000 cap, saying it "would guard against the perception of any one party being unduly influenced or swayed by one person or organisation." His gut feeling suggested "somewhere in the region of £500k."
But once in office, the big unions came knocking. GMB wrote to 80 MPs warning that the amendment "risks having significant unintended consequences," noting that unions already face statutory regulation over political expenditure.
Creasy has now tweaked her amendment to propose a £500,000 cap that would gradually decrease until ministers decide on a final level. "Our new amendment would give British democracy the breathing space to get a donations cap right," she said. Even this compromise, however, hasn't swayed the government, which seems to think that picking a fight with Labour's biggest donors over a little thing like democratic integrity just isn't worth it.