Vote Leave fined for breaking law
THE official pro-Brexit campaign organisation from the 2016 referendum has been fined tens of thousands of pounds for breaking electoral law – while Theresa May fended off a move to commit to staying in a customs union with the EU.
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 was fined £61,000 – and youth Brexit group BeLeave, 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 for another referendum, either a repeat 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 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 referendum, and said the Electoral Commission’s report contained “a number of false accusations and incorrect assertions”.
Mr Grimes said the fine was “entirely disproportionate and unjustified”.
Labour’s Chuka Umunna, who raised an Urgent Question in the Commons yesterday, told MPs Vote Leave’s actions were an “affront to our democracy”.
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.”
Meanwhile, Theresa May saw off a challenge to her Brexit plans in the House of Commons by just six votes, thwarting Tory rebels who could have forced her to try to keep Britain in an EU customs union.
The Prime Minister was saved from a humiliating reversal of plans by the votes of four Labour Brexiteers, and one sitting as an independent, who backed the Government. Twelve Conservatives broke ranks to back the customs union measure.
But Mrs May suffered a defeat on a separate amendment to her flagship Trade Bill, which will require her to seek continued participation in EU medicine regulation.