Ben Delo says new overseas donation cap is designed to curb support for Nigel Farage’s party

CRYPTOCURRENCY billionaire Ben Delo says he is returning to Britain so he can continue donating millions of pounds to Reform UK, after Labour unveiled plans to cap political donations from Britons living overseas.

Mr Delo, 42, who is currently based in Hong Kong, has already given £4 million to Reform this year. But under new government proposals, overseas electors would be limited to donating £100,000 a year.

The businessman has accused Sir Keir Starmer’s government of trying to tilt the political playing field in Labour’s favour by making it harder for Reform to attract major backing from wealthy British supporters living abroad.

Writing in The Telegraph, Mr Delo said he would relocate to the UK in order to continue funding Nigel Farage’s party and help it build a serious war chest before the next general election.

Mr Delo is widely known as a co-founder of the cryptocurrency trading platform BitMEX, which helped make him one of Britain’s youngest self-made billionaires.

He has also spoken publicly about having Asperger’s syndrome, saying he finds much of modern politics difficult to interpret because of what he sees as evasive and unclear language. He contrasted that with Mr Farage’s more direct style of speaking, which he said he finds easier to understand.

Mr Delo said his financial support could help Reform expand its staffing, improve campaign preparation and spend more on events, advertising and organisation ahead of the next national vote.

He also suggested the new donation cap could be aimed at limiting support from other wealthy overseas backers, including businessman Christopher Harborne, who has also donated substantial sums to Reform.

Mr Delo argued that while Labour continues to benefit from large donations linked to the trade union movement, the new rules would make it harder for rival parties to compete on equal terms.

The government says the proposed changes are part of a wider effort to tighten electoral law and reduce the risk of foreign influence in British politics.

Mr Farage welcomed Mr Delo’s decision, saying the funding would help Reform continue developing as a party that is serious about government and capable of attracting the expertise needed to prepare for power.

Mr Delo said he hoped other wealthy expatriates who want to support political causes in Britain would also consider returning to the UK.

Union warns of risks to maternity services while Conservatives attack Labour and Plaid Cymru over workforce planning

NEWLY qualified midwives in Wales are facing uncertainty over whether they will be able to secure NHS jobs this summer, despite continuing concerns about pressure on maternity services and safe staffing.

The issue has opened a fresh political row over NHS workforce planning in Wales after the Royal College of Midwives Cymru warned that delays to the recruitment process, alongside a cut in training places, risk undermining the long-term sustainability of maternity care.

Health Education and Improvement Wales has confirmed that the all-Wales nursing and midwifery student streamlining process has been postponed from April 8 to May 11, 2026. HEIW said the delay was agreed to give health boards more time to review workforce positions, confirm and validate vacancies, and maximise the number of roles available. It added that NHS Wales organisations were dealing with a complex financial and operational position, and that fewer Band 5 roles suitable for graduates are currently available than in previous years.

In a statement published on April 8, RCM Cymru said the delay had created the possibility of fewer vacancies for newly qualified healthcare students in Wales this summer. The union said the situation exposed a worrying disconnect between the number of midwives being trained and the availability of secure and sustainable roles within NHS Wales.

Julie Richards, Director of RCM Cymru, said: “This is deeply concerning, particularly at a time when maternity services in Wales are already under significant pressure. Newly qualified midwives are a vital part of the workforce – they are skilled, committed and ready to provide high-quality care to women, babies and families. The prospect of them being unable to find employment is both troubling and of great concern.”

She added: “On one hand we have national reviews and assessments highlighting the urgent need to improve staffing levels to ensure safe, equitable care. On the other, we are seeing newly qualified midwives facing uncertainty about their future employment. That simply does not add up.”

RCM Cymru also warned that the problem went beyond short-term graduate anxiety and posed a wider risk to the profession. Richards said: “We are at real risk of losing talented professionals before they have even begun their careers. Without immediate action, newly qualified midwives may be forced into non-clinical roles, insecure employment or leave the profession entirely. That would be a devastating loss for maternity services and for the women and families who rely on them.”

Those concerns build on the union’s response to the All-Wales Maternity and Neonatal Assurance Assessment, published in February, in which RCM Cymru said staffing shortages must be treated as an immediate safety issue. In that response, Richards said safe staffing was the foundation of safe care and called for dedicated funding, proper support for newly qualified midwives, and stronger backing for midwifery leaders.

The deeper concern for the union is that the current jobs squeeze appears to sit uneasily beside repeated official warnings about pressure in maternity care. In a letter seen by The Herald, RCM Cymru said HEIW had confirmed a delay to midwifery streamlining creating reduced employment opportunities for newly qualified midwives, and warned that a reduction in commissioned student midwife places from 224 to 144 — a fall of 36 per cent — risked future shortages from 2030 onwards.

That argument is likely to intensify scrutiny of Welsh Government policy, because in a written statement on March 9, Health Secretary Jeremy Miles said ministers were maintaining £319.6 million of investment in education and training for healthcare professionals in 2026-27. He said the government had chosen a measured approach that would support a one-year stabilising position while longer-term workforce modelling was completed, adding that NHS Wales now employed more staff than at any point in its history.

However, RCM Cymru argues that a focus on vacancy data and budget pressures risks overlooking the actual demands on maternity services. In its letter, the union said financial constraints appeared to have been prioritised over a full assessment of workforce capacity, including safe staffing requirements, training commitments, maternity leave, workload, burnout, attrition and skill mix.

The Welsh Conservatives have seized on the issue as part of a broader attack on Labour’s record in government and Plaid Cymru’s support for ministers. In a statement released on Friday (Apr 10), Welsh Conservative health spokesman Peter Fox said: “After years of mismanagement, we are now seeing trained paramedics, nurses, doctors and midwives being left without clear job prospects in Wales, while patients are left waiting longer for care.

“This is a clear failure of workforce planning. Instead of securing the next generation of NHS staff, Labour and Plaid Cymru are presiding over a system that risks losing them altogether.”

Fox said his party would seek to retain, recruit and train more doctors, dentists, nurses, midwives and health professionals in Wales.

The midwives issue has emerged against a wider backdrop of concern over graduate NHS recruitment in Wales. RCN Wales has already warned that up to half of newly qualified nurses could be left without a job when recruitment opens, while HEIW has acknowledged that the number of available Band 5 posts is currently lower than in previous years.

What is not yet clear is whether ministers will offer a direct response to the specific warning from RCM Cymru over newly qualified midwives. No substantive Welsh Government or Plaid Cymru comment addressing that narrow issue appeared alongside the public statements reviewed by The Herald. The most recent Welsh Government position remains its March commitment to protect healthcare training investment and its February acceptance of the recommendations of the maternity and neonatal assurance assessment.

For now, the contradiction at the heart of the row remains unresolved. Maternity services have been told they must improve staffing and safety, yet newly qualified midwives are being warned there may not be enough jobs for them in Wales.

RCM Cymru says that does not add up. HEIW says it is trying to maximise available roles in a difficult financial climate. The Welsh Conservatives say it is proof of long-term failure in workforce planning.

What happens when the streamlining process finally opens on May 11 may show whether the delay was enough to close the gap — or whether Wales is about to lose a new intake of midwives before many of them even begin their careers.

A CALL for a storage container for a “well-established and valued” Pembrokeshire children’s nursery in a nearby cemetery has been refused by county planners.

In an application to Pembrokeshire County Council, Diane Evans of Meithrinfa Do Re Mi Nursery sought permission for the installation of a storage container, partially in retrospect, at Horeb Cemetery, Station Road, Letterston.

A supporting statement said: “The container is required to provide essential ancillary storage to support the lawful and established nursery use within the [nearby] chapel building.

“The site forms part of an active cemetery, owned and managed by a group of trustees. The applicant is one of the trustees and has obtained formal permission from the trustees for the container to be sited on this land.”

It added: “The container will be used solely for storage of nursery equipment and materials, including outdoor learning resources, maintenance equipment, and items required to manage both the nursery grounds and the cemetery land. No additional operational activity will take place within or around the container.”

It said the nursery, which provides childcare for approximately 83 children from the local community, “operates with a strong community focus and promotes sustainability and environmental awareness,” with plans to soften the container appearance through the planting of trees, shrubs and flowers.

An officer report recommending refusal said: “Whilst the container itself is modest in size and of a simple rectangular form, the proposal does introduce a rudimentary and visually incongruous structure. Its appearance is out of scale with its surroundings and detracts from the polite architectural character of Horeb Chapel.

“Consideration has been made with regards to alternative locations within the site, however, due to site constraints, the applicant has stated that there is no other feasible position for the container. Given the restrictive nature of the site, combined with its use as a cemetery, raises concerns as to whether a shipping container by its form and design can be considered an appropriate or complementary addition.

“Although the applicant has provided justification regarding the operational need for the additional storage, and while the local planning authority recognises and supports the functional requirements of the nursery, consideration must also be given to more sympathetic design solution.”

One letter of objection raised concerns including the container design, scale, inappropriate siting, visual impact and concerns about its deterioration, along with a potential impact on property values.

The application was refused on the grounds it would be “an overbearing and visually intrusive feature,” having “a detrimental impact on the character and appearance of the site and surrounding area,” and it “fails to identify the green infrastructure baseline of the site and follow a stepwise approach to provide sufficient and accurate mitigation and compensation measures”.