Labour attracts growing support from Asian business leaders

ASIAN businessmen have donated generously to the ruling Labour party and the Liberal Democrats in the first quarter of 2025, the latest data from the Electoral Commission has revealed.

Property tycoon Maqbool Ahmed was the biggest Asian donor, contributing more than £75,000 to Labour, while Amin Hemani gave £50,000, and Lord Waheed Alli contributed £35,000 in January. Businessman Sudhir Choudhrie made six donations totalling more than £23,000 to the Liberal Democrats, data from January to March showed.

Choudhrie was the top donor among Asians in the preceding quarter.

Meanwhile, Reform UK received donations from Mohamed Amersi and Bassim Haidar, who each gave £25,000 during the first quarter.

The data, published by the Electoral Commission last Tuesday (10), also showed that Asians have demonstrated an increasing interest in Nigel Farage’s Reform UK party, while support for the Conservatives has declined.

Labour donor Ahmed was the second biggest individual contributor to the party during the period as he gave £75,180 in February. Lords minister and former Labour general secretary Reginald Collins was the top individual donor with £350,000. Ahmed began his journey in property development in 1984, after qualifying as an accountant. He made his first purchase in inner-city Birmingham, renovating neglected properties into family homes. He later expanded into commercial properties.

Ahmed brought in his brother Fazal in 1992 to help manage the increasing number of developments. Their firm, MIA Properties (Birmingham) Limited is one of the leading property development groups in the Midlands.

Hemani, who donated through Scottish Labour in January, is a major shareholder in Fieldgate Properties (UK) Limited, a London-based property development company established in 2004. It focuses on building project development and operates out of the City of London. Hemani shares ownership of the company with Christopher Attwood.

Media entrepreneur Lord Alli has been a long-time supporter of the Labour party. Over the past three decades, he has built a diverse business empire spanning the media, retail, entertainment and technology industries. Born to a Hindu mother and a Muslim father of Indo-Caribbean descent, Lord Alli ranks among Labour’s most significant donors, having contributed over £700,000 from his estimated £200 million fortune to the party.

London Hotel Group, led by directors Gauhar Nawab and Meher Nawab, donated £3,750 to Labour in March.

PG Paper Company Ltd, with Puneet Gupta and Poonam Gupta listed as directors, donated a total of £3,928 to prime minister Sir Keir Starmer’s party during the period.

The Conservatives, under Kemi Badenoch, raised more d o n a t i o n s than any other major political party in the first quarter of 2025, according to the data. Bansols Beta Limited, with director Moonpal Singh Grewal, contributed £3,000 to the Tories, and Faith Hotels Limited, under the directorship of Tejinder Chetal, donated £5,000 to the party in February.

The Tories received over £3.3m, while Labour collected £2.3m during the same period. Reform UK and the Liberal Democrats each secured £1.5m.

Businessman Ramesh Dewan, who has interests in commercial real estate and publishing, emerged as a notable donor to the Lib Dems. He made a onetime donation of around £3,000 to the party in January.

Other recent contributions to the Lib Dems include Nagwa MSA Abdelmottaleb and Ahmed AA Hindawi, each donating £12,500. London-based care provider, Goodcare Limited, led by Dr Arujuna Sivananthanan and Karthika Sivananthanan, made two donations to Reform UK, totalling £15,000 in January.

Jackie Killeen, director of electoral administration and regulation at Electoral Commission said: “Over £12.95m in donations was accepted by political parties in the first quarter of 2025. The UK political finance regime has high levels of transparency, and we know that voters are interested in where parties get their money from. This publication is an important part of delivering this transparency for voters. “

However, there are parts of the system that need strengthening, and we have been calling for changes to the law in three key areas: to limit company donations to the money that they have made in the UK; to legally require parties to conduct know-your-donor checks on donations to assess and manage their risks; and to ensure that those who donate to unincorporated associations are permissible donors.”

“The UK government is currently considering these recommendations as part of reforms to the political finance regime. Addressing the gaps would help to improve coverage of the donation controls and ensure voters can have confidence in the political finance system.