Electoral watchdog is ‘swamp creature’, says Brexit backer
LEAVE.EU CHAIRMAN Arron Banks has unleashed a broadside against the Electoral Commission, accusing the democracy watchdog of being a “swamp creature” packed with “fully signedup Remainers”.
The Brexit-backing businessman is facing a commission investigation into whether he breached campaign finance rules in last year’s EU referendum.
The commission has said it is looking into whether Mr Banks was the “true source” of three loans worth £6m on non-commercial terms to Leave.EU, and whether Better for the Country Limited (BFTCL) – a company that lists him as a director – was acting as an “agent” when it donated £2.3m to five registered campaigners.
In a letter to commission chief executive Claire Bassett, Mr Banks repeated his assurance that Leave.EU was funded by himself, financier Peter Hargreaves and public donations.
He insisted that “not one shred of evidence” had been produced to back allegations of “dark Russian money” coming into the campaign.
He restated his call for a judgeled inquiry to oversee the funding of all the referendum campaigns, and questioned why the commission – which has a separate investigation under way into the alleged undeclared provision of services to Leave.EU by data firm Cambridge Analytica – was only “targeting” Leave.EU.
Mr Banks wrote: “There is a concerted political effort by Remain MPs to claim people were misled by ‘numbers on the side of a bus’ or that the campaign was funded by cash from Russia or somewhere else overseas.
“I am proud of the fact that the Leave.EU campaign was funded by myself, Peter Hargreaves and donations from the British public in huge numbers.”
Mr Banks accused the commission of “collaborating” with Remain-backing Labour MP Ben Bradshaw, who raised questions in the Commons about alleged Russian interference in the democratic process. He described the commission as “a swamp creature created by New Labour and packed full of the flotsam of British politics”.
An Electoral Commission spokesman said: “We have received Mr Banks’ letter and will respond directly to him in due course.”
Mr Bradshaw said: “This extraordinary outburst and attack on Britain’s independent Electoral Commission smacks of desperation.”
There is a concerted political effort to claim people were misled. Leave.EU chairman Arron Banks.