Conservative MPs receive donations from the company behind the controversial Aquind interconnector scheme

Sir Simon Clarke, Sir Liam Fox and Alun Cairn have received £25,000 in total from Aquind Ltd, which wants to lay cables through Portsmouth to Normandy in France. Sir Simon Clark, MP for Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland in the north-east received £5,000 on March 27 and was accepted on the same day. Sir Liam Fox, MP for North Somerset, received £10,000 on March 25 – he accepted the money on April 3. Alun Cairns, MP for Vale of Glamorgan in South Wales, received £5,000 on March 2 and March 21 – he accepted each donation on the day he received them.

The nature of the donations is not disclosed, other than Mr Cairns’s first donation which was to “support my campaign”. Around the same time the donations were sent, the Local Democracy Reporting Service revealed that the Ministry of Defence has “serious national security concerns” over the proposed project.

Aquind is part-owned by Russian-born former oil executive Victor Fedotov and directed by Ukranian-born British businessman Alexander Temerko. The government originally refused the project in January 2022, only for the decision to be overturned in the high court a year later – the decision now rests with Claire Coutinho, the secretary of state of energy security and net zero.

Portsmouth South MP Stephen Morgan said: “This whole saga has reeked of government cronyism. Since this project started, Alexander Temerko has donated hundreds of thousands of pounds to the Conservative Party and nearly one in ten Tory MPs have accepted money from Viktor Fedotov’s businesses.” He added he finds it “stunning” that Tory MPs are accepting money from Aquind after the MoD’s concerns were reported “just months ago”.

In response, Aquind spokesperson Ben Iorio said: “Aquind is a British company, and all of Aquind’s directors and shareholders are British citizens. Any donations made are in strict accordance with all regulations and with total transparency. Supporting and donating to political parties is the right of all British citizens and companies, and a fundamental part of the democratic process.”

Simon Clarke MP added: “Mr Temerko is a British citizen of Ukrainian origin who runs a business in the North East employing people in good jobs in clean energy, which we need much more of. “

Portsmouth North Penny Mordaunt MP, Alun Cairns MP and Liam Fox MP were approached for comment.