Companies that donated to Labour were awarded £138million in contracts during the party’s first year in power, a new report has shown.

The study by research group The Autonomy Institute investigated the link between donations from private businesses to major political parties in Britain and the awarding of public sector contracts.

It found over the last 25 years, £47million has been donated by companies who have received public contracts in return, totalling £60billion.

The report showed that eight companies which had donated over £580,000 to the Labour Party were awarded contracts worth just under £138million within two years of their contribution, between July 2024 and June 2025.

A total of 29 firms meanwhile donated nearly £11million to the Conservative Party and were then given contracts worth £2.3billion while the party was in Government, between May 2015 and July 2024.

Dr Susan Hawley, executive director of Spotlight on Corruption said: “There is nothing more damaging to public trust than the perception that those with privileged access to those in power get privileged access to taxpayer-funded contracts.

“These findings show a systemic problem with the UK’s absurdly weak handling of conflicts of interest.”

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Officials at centre of collapsed China spy case to appear before parliamentary inquiry 

Senior officials at the heart of the collapsed China spying case will appear before a parliamentary inquiry today.

Director of Public Prosecutions Stephen Parkinson took the decision to drop the case, blaming the evidence from deputy national security adviser (DNSA) Matt Collins for not demonstrating that China posed a threat to national security.

Both men will give evidence to MPs and peers on the Joint Committee on the National Security Strategy (JCNSS) this afternoon.

The collapse of the case against Christopher Cash, a former parliamentary researcher, and Christopher Berry – who both denied charges under the Official Secrets Act – has triggered a Westminster blame game.

The Conservatives have accused Sir Keir Starmer of deliberately collapsing the case to avoid damaging relations with Beijing while the Prime Minister has said the prosecution had to be based on the Tory position – which did not describe China as a threat – at the time of the alleged offences.