Bloomberg donates £150,000 to Labor

Sir Keir Starmer and Rachel Reeves attended a meeting in Edinburgh with Bloomberg and several other financial services companies in December. Photo: Labor

Sir Keir Starmer and Rachel Reeves held a private meeting with Bloomberg just weeks after the Labor Party received a £150,000 donation from a financial data company, it has been revealed.

According to the Electoral Commission's political finance database, the Bloomberg Trading Facility is the company's platform for Trade in Financial Investment Products — made a donation of £150,000 to Labor, which was accepted on 28 November 2023.

Investigative website OpenDemocracy reported that on December 8, six senior Labor Party officials held a roundtable meeting in Edinburgh with Bloomberg, as well as investment manager Baillie Gifford, Aegon Asset Management and NatWest Group.

OpenDemocracy reported that along Present at the meeting with Sir Keir and Ms Reeves were Shadow Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds, Shadow City Minister Tulip Siddiq, as well as Scottish Labor leader Anas Sarwar and Daniel Johnson, the party's Holyrood spokesman.

According to a now-deleted LinkedIn post from the PR agency that helped organize the meeting, the roundtable offered «a very thorough discussion of Labour's vision and priorities for economic growth, the outlook for the financial services industry and an exclusive dive into Labour's launch of the Financial Services Policy Review».

Labour's plan for financial services was published in full next month.

'Corporate influence'

Impulse, a left-wing pressure group, accused Sir Keir of being too close to big business.

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A spokesman for the group said: “Keir Starmer is not wrong. The Labor Party has changed from a party funded and shaped by the many to a party funded and shaped by the few.

“This corporate influence is a recipe for bad politics and public distrust in politics.”

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But a Labor Party spokesman said: “It is standard practice for the Labor Party to meet with representatives of the private sector. Donations from businesses are declared in accordance with Electoral Commission rules.

“Labour is proud to partner with the financial services sector as we develop policies to grow our economy after 14 years of chaos and Tory decline.” < /p>

The donation is the largest political donation in the UK since the Brexit referendum in 2016.

Bloomberg donated £100,000 to the Conservatives in 2022.

Closer to town< p>Since taking over as leader of the Labor Party in 2020, Sir Keir has sought to build a close relationship with the city, a stark contrast to the party's perceived anti-business stance under Jeremy Corbyn.

Sir Keir met Michael last month Bloomberg, the billionaire founder of Bloomberg, who served as mayor of New York from 2002 to 2013.

Sir Keir said he was «delighted to meet» Mr Bloomberg «to discuss Labour's partnership with business and our plans to create a mission-driven government».

Mr Bloomberg has previously strongly criticized the decision UK to leave the EU. In 2017, he said Brexit was «the stupidest thing any country has ever done» short of the election of Donald Trump as US president.

Last year, Bloomberg profiled former Bank of England governor Mark Carney : Another Brexit critic who in October backed Ms Reeves to become the next chancellor — as chair of its board.

A Bloomberg spokesman said: “Bloomberg Companies has a long history of donations to both major UK organizations . political parties. As Electoral Commission reports show, we have a history of relative parity of support among both Labor and Conservatives over many years.

“This event formed part of a regular series of meetings between businesses and politicians in the UK. »