Anger as Vote Leave law breach ‘ confirmed’
The UK’S election watchdog is set to confirm that the official Brexit campaign breached electoral rules, prompting a warning from SNP Westminster leader Ian Blackford that it would risk “undermining confidence in the process” of the referendum.
The former chief executive of Vote Leave, Matthew Elliott, revealed the Electoral Commission has concluded t hat Vote Leave exceeded spending limits, going public with draft findings late on Tuesday night in order to attack them.
The Electoral Commission described Mr Elliot’s actions as an “unusual step”.
If found guilt y of breaking electoral law, Vote Leave could be fined. The allegations centre on a donation of almost £ 680,000 made by t he campaign to a youth Brexit group called Beleave.
It is claimed that the two groups co-ordinated on strategy, and that money was used to pay data firm Aggregate IQ for targeted messaging services that benefited Vote Leave. If the funds had been recorded as Vote Leave expenditure, it would have taken its spending over a £ 7 million limit, breaching electoral law.
Mr Elliot accused the Electoral Commission of a “huge breach of natural justice ”, alleging that the watchdog had not listened to Vote Leave’s version of events.
Asked whether confirm ation that Vote Leave broke the law would cast doubt on the legitimacy of the referendum result, Mr Blackford said: “It would put us into interesting territory. It is something that I’ve carefully considered on the basis of what has come out.”
At PMQS, Theresa May said she was“not going to comment on what appears to be a leaked report which the government has not seen.”
0 Anti- Brexit protesters make their point outside the Houses of Parliament yesterday