Common Questions

How does the revived crypto donations ban avoid waiting for Royal Assent?

Housing Secretary Steve Reed's Report-stage amendment applies the moratorium retrospectively to 25 March 2026, rather than relying on a return window that starts only once Royal Assent is granted.Source: Lowdown

Has the Representation of the People Bill received Royal Assent yet?

Not as of mid-July 2026. The Bill passed Report stage and Third Reading in the Commons in the week of 14 July but still needs to clear the Lords before Royal Assent.Source: Lowdown

Is the Representation of the People Bill included in the 2026 King's Speech?

No. The King's Speech on 13 May 2026 contained 27 bills but did not include any Representation of the People or electoral-finance legislation, deferring the crypto donation return obligation to at least the following parliamentary session.Source: Lowdown

Background

Royal Assent is the formal mechanism by which the Sovereign approves an Act of Parliament, converting it from a bill passed by both Houses into statute law. In practice, Royal Assent has not been withheld since 1708 and is granted either in person at a ceremonial session of Parliament or, more commonly today, through written notification under the Royal Assent Act 1967.

The date of Royal Assent is legally significant because it marks the commencement point for many statutory obligations. Parliament prorogued on 29 April 2026 with the Representation of the People Bill excluded from the four-bill wash-up programme, so the bill did not receive Royal Assent before the 7 May elections and Christopher Harborne's £12 million Cryptocurrency donations to Reform UK escaped any return window tied to that timing. The King's Speech on 13 May set out a 27-bill programme with no Representation of the People or electoral-finance legislation, deferring the Bill within the same parliamentary session.

The Bill returned in July. The government accepted the Rycroft Review in full on 6 July and the Bill reached Report stage and Third Reading in the Commons in the week of 14 July. Housing Secretary Steve Reed's Report-stage amendment treats any Cryptocurrency donation to a registered party as coming from an impermissible donor, with the Electoral Commission clarifying the moratorium applies retrospectively to 25 March 2026, which sidesteps the original 30-day-from-Assent return mechanism this page previously tracked. Labour backbencher Liam Byrne's amendment NC34 goes further, seeking a permanent statutory ban rather than the government's moratorium.

Royal Assent itself has still not been granted: the Bill must clear the Lords before receiving it, so the next legally significant date for the compliance thread running from the Spotlight on Corruption report of April 2026 remains ahead.