Monday briefing: What do Reform’s record-setting donations mean for the party – and our politics?

In today’s newsletter: As Labour MPs scramble to realign later today around a bill that could stop donations like this in their tracks, a look at new game-changing donations to a party engulfed in financial scandals

Good morning. Nigel Farage has a confirmed talent for upending the laws of political gravity, and this weekend has been no exception, as he declared himself “humbled” by two donations of £36m each from cryptocurrency tycoons Ben Delo and Christopher Harborne.

I’d shoehorn a joke about buses in here but, honestly, this feels too consequential for that.

Economy | Former chancellor George Osborne said Britain’s economy had “fallen off a cliff” since Brexit – and that rejoining the European Union’s customs union would be the fastest route to recovery.

Technology | Sam Altman and Elon Musk backed Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei’s call to “slow the pace” of AI development. Amodei had cautioned that an AI swarm could otherwise become capable of “taking over the entire internet” within a year.

Sweden | With most of the votes counted, Sweden’s national election remained too close to call on Sunday night, with left-wing parties holding a lead of just a single seat according to a partial tally by the election authority.

Ukraine | A train carrying Boris Johnson and the former CIA chief David Petraeus may have been the target of a Russian drone strike that hit a train engine near the Poland-Ukraine border, according to Ukrainian Railways.

Travel | The air traffic control outage that caused thousands of flights to be grounded across the UK earlier in the week was caused by a military aircraft entering “spurious” flight data into the system, according to a report.

Monday | First ministers of Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland will meet in Cardiff to discuss moves towards self-determination across the nations.

Tuesday | The final report of the Thirwall Inquiry into events at the neonatal unit where Lucy Letby worked will be published. Letby was sentenced to 15 whole-life terms for murdering seven infants and attempting to murder seven others.

Thursday | Canada’s prime minister, Mark Carney, will address the European parliament.