We cannot let the Leave cheats win

WE ALREADY knew the Leave campaign lied through their teeth to win the Brexit referendum. Now we know they cheated, too. In a damning verdict yesterday, the UK’s election watchdog confirmed Vote Leave broke the law on campaign spending.

They funnelled £680,000 through 23-year-old fashion student Darren Grimes in a blatant attempt to flout strict limits. It was fraud, pure and simple. If the only consequence of this scandal is a paltry £61,000 fine, it will be the final proof that UK democracy is broken.

It would send out the message that any candidate in an election would have to be a fool not to cheat. The degrading episode shows Boris Johnson’s Brexit bus lies are just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the skullduggery of the Brexiteers.

They lied, cheated and fomented racism by pandering to the basest human instincts on the issue of immigration.

It was the most despicable mainstream political campaign ever seen in Britain. Anyone who played any part in it should feel deep, deep shame until their dying day.

The Brexit vote has poisoned the well of British public life and destroyed trust in our democratic institutions. And now we have proof the Brits who voted for it in good faith were duped by lying cheats.

The public are understandably sick and tired of referendums. They seem to do nothing but senselessly divide the country.

So it’s no surprise there is resistance to the idea of a People’s Vote on whether we should leave the EU in March next year.

But you just need to take a look at the damage being wreaked by Brexit to realise something must change. The 2016 referendum result is invalid. It cannot be allowed to stand.