Reform UK’s candidate for the London mayoral election has had several businesses struck off after failing to file legally required documents.
Laila Cunningham was unveiled as the party’s candidate for the 2028 election in a press conference with Nigel Farage earlier this week.
The Westminster City councillor and former criminal prosecutor vowed to take on Sir Sadiq Khan, promising an “all out war” on crime in the capital.
But it has now emerged that one company which lists the 48-year-old as a shareholder and director, and another of which she was a director, have been struck off by Companies House.
According to the official watchdog, she and her husband, Michael Cunningham, jointly owned Kitchin Table Ltd., of which both were also directors. The company operated an app that organised women’s co-working sessions in their homes, was dissolved in August 2024 after a notice for compulsory strike-off action was issued in June that year.
She and her husband were also directors of a second company, MGIC Ltd, in which Mr. Cunningham owned the majority of shares, and which was struck off in August 2023, a year after a previous strike-off action had been discontinued.
Though failing to file company accounts is a criminal offence under UK law, prosecution is rare and it is more likely to have your company struck off instead.
Speaking to Times Radio in Friday, Ms Cunningham insisted that she “didn’t break companies’ law” and that “there was never any wrongdoing” after she failed to file company accounts.
“So I didn’t break companies’ law. Like many companies, and I don’t really like the insinuation that it was a crime in any way,” she said.
“I tried out different business ideas. Some became inactive. And that happens to thousands. They were all dormant, by the way. Every year. There was never any wrongdoing. No one was defrauded. And I passed all CPS vetting right after that.”
When asked whether failing to file company accounts is a breach of the law, she said: “Companies House routinely strikes off inactive or non-filing companies. It’s a paperwork sanction. The system is designed to clear dead companies out of the register. That’s hundreds of thousands of UK companies that are struck off every year. Overwhelmingly, because they’re dormant and admin has lapsed.
“It’s not wrongdoing. It’s just a way to get rid of dead companies. Lots of people do it.
“And you know what? We should reward that because I was taking risk. All my money went into that. Sadly, it didn’t work out because of Covid. And that’s what happened.”
During the fiscal year April 2024 to March 2025, 726,813 companies were dissolved by Companies House.
A Reform UK spokesman said:“Like many entrepreneurs, Laila has set up small companies over the years to test new business ideas. Some became inactive over time, resulting in a lapse of administration. This is something that happens to hundreds of thousands of dormant companies every year.
“Companies House routinely strikes off inactive companies in order to clear dead companies out of the register. There was never any wrongdoing on Laila’s part, and she has passed all her advanced CPS vetting and background checks.”