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UK Labour leadership race: Frontrunner Starmer declines to identify all his campaign donors

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Keir Starmer has declined to identify all of his donors, after coming under pressure to disclose who is funding his Labour leadership campaign.

The frontrunner in the race to succeed Jeremy Corbyn insisted on Wednesday that he was sticking by party rules on finances, but his rivals say they have gone further.

Rebecca Long-Bailey and her allies have called for greater transparency from Mr Starmer, with shadow minister Jon Trickett suggesting the delays were “anti-democratic”.

Shadow Brexit secretary Mr Starmer criticised “this line of attack” when repeatedly pressed to reveal all of his donors during an interview for The Andrew Neil Show on the BBC.

I’ve got a compliance team in place who are checking every donation is in accordance with the rules

“How can you say I’m hiding behind process when it’s the Labour party process,” Mr Starmer said, when pressed on who his five biggest donors are.

“I’ve got a compliance team in place who are checking every donation is in accordance with the rules,” he said.

“Once they’ve done that they pass it to the Parliamentary authorities for them to publish it. So two lots have gone up, another lot is with the Parliamentary authorities as of today, I’m following the rules.”

While not saying who his biggest donors are, he did, however, say that the biggest donation he has received ;was £100,000 from fellow lawyer Robert Latham, which was published on Parliament’s register of interests on Tuesday.

Asked if she thinks Mr Starmer is hiding something, Ms Long-Bailey said that “I hope not”.

“But I think it’s fair to expect all leadership candidates to be transparent, come under scrutiny, because we will do as leader of the party and indeed as prime minister, so we should be as open as possible to show where our donations come from,” she added.

“It’s important to do that because there’s always an assumption that you don’t get something for nothing in this world and those who donate to your campaign will expect to be repaid in some way in the future.”

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