AN influential Labour think tank has raked in over £1 million from donors linked to private healthcare since last July’s General Election.
Labour Together – a think tank that helped Keir Starmer into power and purge the party of Jeremy Corbyn and the left wing – has been given almost £2.2 million from (mostly) wealthy corporate donors in that time period, according to Electoral Commission data.
This is over a third of all cash donations to regulated donees since the election, with the top 13 donations all going to Labour Together.
Transparency International has now called for an urgent cap on individual donations to “stop political influence being concentrated among the super-rich”.
Donations to the influential Labour think tank includes several donations totalling £1m from hedge fund billionaire Martin Taylor, who founded London-based Crake Asset Management (CAM).
It brings the total amount donated by Taylor to Labour politicians and Labour Together to over £6m since April 2020, when Starmer won the party’s leadership contest.
The Ferret previously reported last year that CAM bought shares worth more than £8m in HCA Healthcare since Keir Starmer entered into power.
HCA Healthcare claims to be the largest private healthcare provider in the world and “one of the leading private healthcare providers in the UK”.
The firm’s only Scottish clinic is in Glasgow city centre and charges £90 for a 15-minute GP consultation.
A spokesman for Taylor previously told The Ferret that he supported Labour and the NHS all his life and that HCA’s UK arm is a “microscopic part” of its global business.
“His personal political views have no influence whatsoever on the investment decisions of Crake Asset Management or any other fund he has previously been involved with,” he added.
Long-time donor Trevor Chinn, and former Labour Together director, also donated a further £12,500.
He is a senior advisor to the private equity firm CVC Capital Partners which has investments in dozens of private healthcare companies, according to campaign group EveryDoctor.
Meanwhile, the think tank has also benefited from hefty donations from Lord David Sainsbury, his daughter and philanthropist Francesca Perrin, former Autoglass CEO Gary Lubner and financier Stuart Roden.
Juliet Swann, nations and regions policy manager at Transparency International UK, said: “These million-pound donations show how big money continues to dominate our politics.
“When donors have major commercial interests in areas like private healthcare - where government policy directly affects their business - it inevitably raises questions about what they expect in return for such donations.”
She added: “We urgently need caps on individual donations to stop political influence being concentrated among the super-rich. Without reform, the public will continue to see democracy as something that serves wealthy donors rather than ordinary voters.”
Labour Together have been approached for comment.
