This article is more than 1 year old

This article is more than 1 year old

The new Independent Group of former Labour MPs has been criticised by Corbyn loyalists for not registering as a political party, with some accusing it of deliberately failing to do so in order to avoid reporting donors.

However, even if the group were a registered party it would not be required to report its donors until April, and it has said it intends to publish all donations over £7,500 alongside donors’ names.

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Although the Independent Group resembles a political party and is soliciting money from members of the public, it currently only exists as a limited company called Gemini A Ltd. It was incorporated last month by Gavin Shuker MP, who is its sole director.

It has yet to register with the Electoral Commission, a key requirement for standing candidates at elections under a common banner, which comes with requirements to disclose financial backing.

The group has said it intends to voluntarily disclose donations in line with the law governing political parties, only accepting money from UK donors and naming individuals who give more than £7,500.

The commission said political party donations received between January and March would be reported at the end of April. A spokesperson for the commission said it had already contacted the Independent Group “to understand the structure of the group and any further obligations on them individually or collectively to report donations”.

It is unclear whether the commission, which regulates the use of political party names, would allow the name “the Independent Group” to be registered because of potential confusion on the ballot paper with candidates standing as genuine independents. As a result the group could ultimately adopt a different name to stand in elections.

Chuka Umunna said he hoped the group would form a new political party by the end of the year. This situation is similar to when Labour MPs split from the party in 1981, initially forming a committee before announcing the foundation of the Social Democratic party (SDP) several months later.

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Were it to register with the commission, the Independent Group would eventually be entitled to public “Short money” funding for opposition parties, but not until it had fought in a general election.

Momentum criticised some of the group’s members for donations they received while Labour MPs, with its national coordinator, Laura Parker, claiming there were “serious questions to be asked”.

In 2017 Umunna reported three donations totalling £45,000 from the property developer David Garrard, the former chairman of Lloyds TSB Victor Blank, and Paul Myners, who served as financial services secretary to Gordon Brown and was subsequently appointed to the House of Lords.

Myners is also a former chairman of Guardian Media Group, which owns the Guardian.

In 2017 Umunna incorporated a private company, Streatham Campaigns Ltd. At the time his office told a Guardian reporter it was set up to handle the salaries of Umunna’s staff beyond what would be funded by the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority (Ipsa), which pays MPs’ expenses.

His office said the structure was recommended by the Labour party and by Ipsa, and that any donations Umunna received via Streatham Campaigns would be declared in his register of interests as though he had received them himself.

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Angela Smith, another Independent Group MP, has been criticised for taking hospitality from water industry interests while also campaigning against nationalisation of the sector.

Smith is chair of the all-party parliamentary group on water, which is funded by the private water industry. Last year she wrote a comment piece for the Guardian warning against “ideological siren calls for nationalisation” of the industry. She is a former shadow water minister.

Despite viral claims that the Independent Group’s website is registered in the tax haven of Panama, in reality this is the location of a common privacy service called WhoisGuard which is used by many mainstream websites to obscure personal details such as phone numbers from public listings. WhoisGuard, in common with many privacy services, is based in the Central American country in part because it has few laws on data retention.

The Independent Group’s domain is actually registered with a company based in Phoenix, Arizona, and its website was designed by Seraph, a web design business based in Shuker’s Luton South constituency.

The Independent Group has been approached for comment.

Additional reporting: Damien Gayle