Now unions push to block Reform £72m 'super-donations' as Labour is accused of trying to 'punish' party with law that could force it to return cash

Unions are pushing Andy Burnham to act over huge £72million donations to Reform - but insist their own funding of Labour is fine.TUC general secretary Paul Nowak said the gifts from crypto billionaires Christopher Harborne and Ben Delo showed the influence of the 'super-rich'.The intervention came after Angela Rayner warned yesterday that although rules to crack down on overseas political funding are still going through Parliament, they will be backdated.The Communities Secretary said any expats who have given money since the end of March, including those who subsequently moved back to the UK, will be restricted to giving £100,000 a year.However, Reform deputy leader Richard Tice accused Labour of 'hyperventilating hypocrisy' this morning. The party has insisted it is '100 per cent confident both are legal and won't ever have to be handed back'. TUC general secretary Paul Nowak said the gifts from crypto billionaires Christopher Harborne and Ben Delo showed the influence of the 'super-rich' Reform deputy leader Richard Tice accused Labour of 'hyperventilating hypocrisy' this morningSpeaking on BBC Radio 4's Today programme, Mr Nowak - who will address the TUC conference in Brighton later - was asked if he wanted the donations blocked retrospectively.'I'm not quite sure what the detail of the law would look like, but I am quite sure about this,' he said.'Nobody can be comfortable about the prospect of the super-rich effectively buying and selling British politics...'This is the Americafication of our politics and I don't say that in a good way.'Mr Nowak dismissed the idea that union funding was comparable to the Reform donations. 'Everybody knows what we're after because we are open democratic organisations that represent millions of working people up and down this country,' he said.'I am concerned about the impact of these huge donations. As far as I'm concerned trade union money is the cleanest most transparent money in British politics.'Under the Representation of the People Bill, which will be debated in the Lords today, a 'minimum residency period' could prevent expats returning to Britain from breaching the limit for a calendar year after they come home.Asked in interviews yesterday whether the law could spell problems for two recent £36million donations to Reform from cryptocurrency billionaires living abroad, Ms Rayner replied: 'It will be backdated.'She said the rules would apply to 'overseas donators' and those who have 'recently returned to the UK', affecting all donations received since March 25, when the Government published a review of foreign influence on politics by former mandarin Philip Rycroft.She added: 'Look, we're saying that if you don't pay taxes, if you don't live here, you can't buy your way into our democracy.'Asked if Reform might have to return the sums, she said she didn't know their 'individual circumstances'. But she added: 'With the retrospective action, anyone that's received donations that don't comply with what was in the Rycroft review, what legislation is currently going through Parliament, would have 60 days to return that money.'Mr Tice told ITV's Good Morning Britain today: 'These donations are made in accordance with the rules and the regulations, and you've now got a hyperventilating hypocrisy from the socialists ruining this country, who are trying to change the rules retrospectively, which is it's not the fair way, it's not the British way, and I think most people will say ''does that just mean that Labour are terrified of the progress of Reform and they're trying to create an unlevel playing field?'''What these two donations are trying to do is to actually level the playing field. We're relatively new, we haven't had the vast donations over the last five to 10 years that Labour and the Tories have had, so we need to employ campaign managers up and down the country, we need to employ brilliant policy people, the best minds, in order to ensure that we have the best policies.' The intervention came after Angela Rayner warned yesterday that although rules to crack down on overseas political funding are still going through Parliament, they will be backdatedHe said the donors would have 'absolutely zero' influence on Reform's policy platform.'They haven't made any asks, they haven't made demands and nothing would be given in return, we've made that crystal clear,' he said.It is thought that Mr Delo, who lived in Hong Kong, and Mr Harborne, who was based in Thailand, both moved back to Britain before the March cut-off date.