‘VOTE LEAVE’ GROUP BROKE UK LAW, CALL TO REVOKE BREXIT

LONDON: The official group that campaigned for Brexit before the 2016 referendum – fronted by former foreign secretary Boris Johnson and Conservative MP Priti Patel, among others – broke the law, Britain’s election regulator said on Tuesday.

The development prompted renewed calls for scrapping the referendum result and holding another following the Electoral Commission’s damning conclusion after an investigation that the Vote Leave group exceeded the £7 million spending limit.

The commission fined the group £61,000 and referred it to Scotland Yard for further action, a development that raised serious concerns within the ruling Conservative Party and opposition Labour benches, while Prime Minister Theresa May faced fresh challenges in Parliament to pass bills related to Brexit.

Vote Leave said the “wholly inaccurate” report was politically motivated, but the commission said it found “substantial evidence” that the two groups worked to a common plan, did not declare their joint working, and did not adhere to the legal spending limits.

Bob Posner from the commission said: “Vote Leave has resisted our investigation from the start, including contesting our right as the statutory regulator to open the investigation.

THE VOTE LEAVE GROUP EXCEEDED ITS £7 MILLION SPENDING LIMIT BY FUNNELLING £675,315 THROUGH THE PROBREXIT YOUTH GROUP BELEAVE.