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Political parties have accepted thousands of pounds from lobbyists in recent years. Anti-corruption campaigners claimed donations buy lobby firms “privileged access” to politicians for their wealthy clients.
Scottish Labour accepted nearly £13,000 in event sponsorship from two lobbying firms, and a Scots lobbying boss handed £6,000 to a local Tory party, before hiring the local MP as an advisor just months later when she lost her seat, analysis from The Ferret has found.
The lobbying firms in question are partly staffed by former politicians and government insiders. Their clients have included investment managers, arms firms, energy companies, Airbnb, Heathrow Airport, TikTok, and a top outsourcing firm favoured by governments.
Anti-corruption and political reform campaigners said lobbyists hiring former MPs could be seen as a “reward” for providing services, and called for a tightening of the rules around donations, transparency and political influence.
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Lobbying is a normal and legal part of the political process, which allows different stakeholders to meet with lawmakers and attempt to influence the direction of policy.
But one former MP-turned political reform campaigner warned that “donations buy better access, and therefore potentially more influence”. He called on parties to refuse donations from lobbyists in order to better protect the democratic process.
Campaigners have long warned of a “revolving door” of political insiders becoming lobbyists in order to influence their former colleagues on behalf of paid clients.
Labour stressed that the donations had been declared properly and were within the rules.
Our research found Scottish Labour accepted two contributions totaling £5,400 from Invicta Public Affairs in 2024 and 2025, and £7,200 from Stonehaven Global Holdings Limited last year. The party recorded two contributions as cash donations, but told The Ferret they were actually for event sponsorship.
Both lobbying firms advocate on behalf of paid clients at Holyrood and Westminster, and include former insiders from Labour, other parties and government officials as staff.
Invicta, which has offices in Glasgow and London, is owned and run by Mark Cummings.
His firm’s clients have included housebuilders, a supermarket, an investment management firm, and energy companies.
Invicta’s team includes Selaine Saxby as an advisor. In June 2024, when Saxby was the North Devon MP, her local Tory party accepted a £6,000 cash donation from MFGC Holdings Ltd – Invicta’s parent company, and Cummings’ family investment firm.
She lost her seat in the general election the following month, and, according to her LinkedIn profile, took up a role as Invicta’s advisor in September – just weeks later.
I know from personal experience as a MP for over 20 years, that donations buy better access, and therefore potentially more influence. — Tom Brake, a former Lib Dem MP and director of Unlock Democracy
Last year, MFGC donated £2,000 towards the candidacy of the Mid-Dunbartonshire Liberal Democrat MP, Susan Murray. She was criticised by Transparency International UK for accepting the cash.
The Lib Dems said MFGC “belongs to a long term supporter of the party” and that the donation was properly declared.
In 2024, MFGC sponsored Scottish Labour deputy leader Jackie Baillie’s Christmas cards, worth £500, and a year earlier took now-Tory leader Russell Findlay and MSP Murdo Fraser on a £780 hospitality trip to the Scottish Cup semi-final at Hampden.
Stonehaven is owned and run by Peter Lyburn, a former Perth and Kinross Tory candidate who previously worked on campaign strategy with former Tory adviser Lynton Crosby.
Lyburn’s lobbying firm gave nearly £30,000 in cash to the Tories between 2019 and 2021, before handing £7,200 to Scottish Labour last year,
Stonehaven has represented energy clients including Scottish Power, SGN, EDF and Drax, defence industry clients including Raytheon, Melrose, and the trade association for “aerospace, defence, security and space”, ADS Group.
Other past clients include Airbnb, TikTok, Makin Enterprises, whose ventures include a private jet service for wealthy individuals, and the outsourcing firm used by successive governments, Capita.
Jamie Mann
In 2021, we revealed that Invicta boss Cummings was the former local chair of the East Dunbartonshire Tory party, and gave £12,000 to the Conservatives for event sponsorship.
We found that he lobbied MSPs, including his former consultant, Tory MSP Stephen Kerr, on behalf of clients in the same industries Kerr was paid to advise Invicta on.
Responding to The Ferret’s 2021 investigation into Invicta, Labour MSP Paul Sweeney said the firm’s sponsorship of Tory events was used to “secure meetings” for its clients and had exposed weaknesses in the lobbying act. Then-SNP MP Alison Thewliss slammed “jobs for the boys” and said Kerr and Invicta’s relationship was “extremely concerning”.
Invicta’s team currently includes advisor Brian Wilson, a former Scots Labour MP, and UK trade minister and energy minister. He has lobbied MSPs, including from Labour.
Thewliss’s former colleague, Richard Thomson, who was the SNP’s business spokesperson at Westminster, joined Invicta as Scotland associate director months after losing his seat in 2024.
In recent years, he has lobbied former party colleagues – and others – such as the first minister, public finance minister Ivan McKee, and Jack Middleton, who is a special advisor to John Swinney and a Holyrood candidate.
Ex-SNP MSP Richard Lyle was also an Invicta consultant. In 2024, he was accused of breaking parliamentary rules by using a special pass to lobby for private companies. Lyle denied the claims, and said he stuck to the rules.
It shows how porous the boundaries are between money, access, and power in our democracy. That should be a wake-up call to strengthen our rules on political funding and influence. — Jennifer Nadel, Compassion in Politics
Stonehaven employees include a government relations consultant who was a Labour official, and a senior consultant who was a campaign aide to Boris Johnson.
The firm has also recruited staff from companies it has represented. In December 2019, it hired a former senior executive at Scottish Power’s Spanish owner, Iberdrola, as managing director. Scottish Power was a Stonehaven client as late as June 2019.
Last year, openDemocracy reported that five members of staff of Stonehaven worked for Labour during its general election campaign, including the campaign of health secretary Wes Streeting, who is seen as a frontrunner to be the next prime minister.
Staffers included consultant Alex Savage, who, via LinkedIn, recalled “campaigning in marginal seats from Scotland to London”, and invited followers to take a “deep dive” into Stonehaven's report into Labour voters “and what they mean for your business”.
According to openDemocracy, campaign group Britain Remade, which promotes causes including Scottish nuclear power, was set up by Stonehaven to advocate for its clients’ policies.
The campaign group’s staff includes political insiders and its chief executive was Boris Johnson’s special advisor on energy and the environment.
Britain Remade has been funded by Quadrature Climate Foundation, a climate charity set up by Quadrature Capital, and a former Stonehaven client. The hedge fund, owned via the Cayman Islands, a tax and secrecy haven, donated £4m to Labour in the run-up to the election.
Quadrature declined to comment but has previously said it has paid more than £2bn in UK taxes, and that all of its trading profits have been subject to UK corporation tax.
Stonehaven has previously lobbied Scottish ministers, and MSPs from Labour and other parties, on matters which have included nuclear energy.
Rob Edwards
Anti-corruption, transparency and political reform campaigners expressed concern about The Ferret’s findings.
“It’s hard not to see these donations as the cost of doing business for lobbyists trying to secure privileged access to politicians and decision-makers for their clients,” said Tim Picton, senior advocacy advisor at Spotlight on Corruption.
Public trust is “undermined by the cosy relationship that sees former MPs take up jobs at lobbying firms once they lose their seats, potentially giving the impression that the position is a reward for services rendered,” he added.
Tom Brake, a former Lib Dem MP and director of Unlock Democracy, said: “I know from personal experience as a MP for over 20 years, that donations buy better access, and therefore potentially more influence. I'd recommend looking their gift horse in the mouth and politely declining its generosity."
Jennifer Nadel, who co-founded the cross-party think-tank, Compassion in Politics, said: “When companies whose business model is influencing government are also bankrolling political parties, it should set alarm bells ringing.
“It shows how porous the boundaries are between money, access, and power in our democracy, and at a moment when we can see how easily democratic norms unravel elsewhere, including in the US, that should be a wake-up call to strengthen our rules on political funding and influence.”
Transparency International UK’s Juliet Swann called for a tightening of the rules around political influence.
“Requiring Scotland's lobbying register to include the expense associated with lobbying activity would expose any links between access to decision makers and financial resource,” she said.
An Invicta spokesperson said: "Invicta does not provide any donations to political parties. Rather as an advisory firm, we routinely enter into commercial sponsorship opportunities with all political parties in the UK to support business engagement events."
The £3,000 given to Scottish Labour last year covered activities including an exhibition stand and sponsorship of a business reception open to all conference delegates, they added.
A spokesperson for MFGC said the firm “makes a range of charitable donations each year, and on occasion does make donations to parliamentary candidates seeking election."
A Scottish Labour spokesperson said: “All donations are declared in accordance with Parliamentary and Electoral Commission rules.”
The SNP, the Conservatives, Stonehaven, and Britain Remade did not respond to requests to comment.
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