Vote Leave fined for breaking law
THE official pro-Brexit campaign organisation from the 2016 referendum has been fined tens of thousands of pounds and senior figures referred to the police for breaking electoral law.
Vote Leave, which was supported by senior politicians including Boris Johnson and Michael Gove, failed to declare money it spent with controversial data firm Aggregate IQ, the Electoral Commission said.
The commission said its investigation found “significant evidence” of joint working between Vote Leave – which has been fined £61,000 – and the youth Brexit group BeLeave, which was founded by student Darren Grimes.
Mr Grimes was fined £20,000 and referred to the Metropolitan Police along with Mr David Halsall, the responsible person for Vote Leave, “in relation to false declarations of campaign spending”, the Commission added.
It sparked calls from Remain-supporting MPs from across the political spectrum for another referendum, either a reply of the original or a second vote on the terms of the Brexit deal.
The Commission found that a donation of almost £680,000 made by Vote Leave to BeLeave was spent with Aggregate IQ “under a common plan with Vote Leave”, and should have been declared.
This spending took Vote Leave over its £7 million legal spending limit by almost £500,000.
Bob Posner, Electoral Commission director of political finance, said: “We 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.
“These are serious breaches of the laws put in place by Parliament to ensure fairness and transparency at elections and referendums.”
Vote Leave was the official registered Brexit-supporting campaign group for the 2016 referendum, and said the Electoral Commission’s report contained “a number of false accusations and incorrect assertions that are wholly inaccurate and do not stand up to scrutiny”.
Mr Grimes said the fine was “entirely disproportionate and unjustified”.
He added: “I did nothing wrong. I have been persecuted for over two years by powerful people for nothing more than engaging in the democratic process and having the temerity to be on the winning side.”
Labour’s Chuka Umunna, who raised an Urgent Question in the Commons yesterday, told MPs the findings of the Electoral Commission were “shocking” and said Vote Leave’s actions were an “affront to our democracy”.
Conservative former minister Sir Nicholas Soames called for the electoral system to be “blown up and started all over again”.
Tory Health and Social Care Select Committee chairwoman Sarah Wollaston added: “Consequences must follow, we cannot have confidence that this referendum was secure and it should be re-run.”