EIGHT firms that recently donated to the Labour Party were awarded contracts worth close to £138 million within the first year of Sir Keir Starmer’s government, researchers revealed today.

Their report, for the Autonomy Institute think tank, found that the firms’ donations, totalling £580,000, were tiny compared with the multimillion-pound public contracts they received.

Among them were accounting firm PwC UK, which had donated £236,000 since 2022 and been awarded £67m in contracts, and business consultancy Baringa Partners, which had given £30,000 since last year and signed deals worth £35m.

The trend carries on from the previous Tory government. Looking at May 2015 until last July, the report identified 29 companies which had donated £11m to the Conservative Party and then received contracts worth £2.3 billion.

These included Covid testing firm Randox Laboratories, which took £132.4m in contracts after donating £44,000, and consultancy KPMG, which secured £236m in deals after donating £170,000.

The report found that since 2000, for every £1 donated by a “giver and taker” company, they were awarded £1,294 in public contracts.

It describes the relationship between donations and government contracts as a “cause of concern for democratic governance, raising questions for transparency, accountability, and public trust” and calls for a ban on public contracts for firms that have made donations over the last decade.

In the quarter preceding the 2024 general election, donations from corporations surpassed £20m for the first time, the think tank says.

A Momentum spokesperson said: “Keir Starmer rightly pledged to restore trust and integrity to British politics. It is troubling, then, to see companies that donated to Labour awarded contracts.

“As Labour faces an existential crisis after the Caerphilly by-election, and following the defeat of the Starmer-backed candidate for deputy leader, this new revelation demonstrates why Labour members are demanding a change of direction.”

A government spokesperson insisted: “All government contracts are awarded fairly and transparently, in line with the Public Contracts Regulations 2015.

“All decisions on contracts are rigorously scrutinised to deliver the best value for the taxpayer.”