On 18 June 2026, the voters of Makerfield went to the polls in a by-election that could return Andy Burnham to Westminster. On their doorsteps, they found a leaflet from Hope Not Hate Limited — the private campaigning company funded at 80 per cent by a charity with no employees — urging them to “join the local fightback against Reform”.
Nigel Farage MP has reported it to the Charity Commission.
The figures match the public record
The numbers in Farage’s complaint are the ones the filings already show:
- HOPE Unlimited Charitable Trust total expenditure (2024): £893,701
- Of which paid as a grant to Hope Not Hate Limited: £787,858
- HNH Limited is a registered third-party campaigner at the Electoral Commission
- The trust is funded “almost entirely by grants” that flow to the company
The charity raises the money. The company spends it on the campaign. The trustees “oversee”. This is the same structure the Charity Commission examined once already — and closed in January after the charity changed its name.
The trustees read like a Labour honours list
- Gurinder Singh Josan — sitting Labour MP, and the trust’s chair
- Frances O’Grady — Labour peer, ex-TUC General Secretary
- Jon Cruddas — former Labour MP
- Nadia Phillips — Labour Together CEO
The defence, printed
Hope Not Hate says the grants are “ringfenced for charitable and non-political work” and that campaigning is “funded by our supporters”. It called Farage’s complaint “a transparent attempt to distract from legitimate scrutiny” of Reform’s candidate.
The Charity Commission has now been asked a direct question: will it act before the result, or after it no longer matters?