Labour MP Helena Dollimore has called on Conservative donor Lubov Chernukhin to return £150,000 of taxpayer money granted to fund a vast FEC in Hastings, which closed less than a year after opening.

Owens Entertainment, launched in October 2022, was awarded funding from Boris Johnson’s town deal initiative to boost local business. Despite promises to create 45 jobs and attract visitors, Owens shut its doors in September 2023, leaving a boarded-up high street location – and a Hollywood-style tale of Russian moguls, political party influences, government figure meetings and a cracking good FEC.

Dollimore has urged Chernukhin, who donated more than £2m to the Conservatives, to refund the money now that the project is in administration. She also called on Tory leader Kemi Badenoch to reject further donations from Chernukhin until the funds are repaid.

Hastings council is attempting to recover the grant, but efforts have been unsuccessful so far. And the FEC, which promised so much and oddly, given the backdrop story, started to deliver, was the major casualty.