Brexit: ‘Shysters’ should be held to account, says MP
BREXIT “shysters” must be investigated to reveal what really happened in the leave c campaign during the European refere endum, a Bristol MP has demanded.
Darren Jones MP has called on the Government to commission an in inquiry into what happened during th the 2016 vote, which resulted in the c country voting to leave the European Union by 52 per cent to 48 per cent. The call follows claims Vote Leave broke the law with its campaign and th the news that Facebook is set to re receive the maximum fine for its Cambridge Analytica data breach.
The Electoral Commission’s leaked draft report in into Vote Leave has re reportedly found the o official campaign group b broke electoral laws.
The independent w watchdog, which intends to fine the Brexit campaign g group, is said to have found evidence of Vote Leave exceeding its spending limit, inaccurate records, missing receipts and question marks over a major £600,000 donation from th the smaller campaign Be Leave.
Vote Leave has denied it did anyth thing wrong. Facebook, meanwhile, was has been fined £500,000 by the In Information Commissioner’s Office, th the maximum amount possible, for it its part in the Cambridge Analytica s scandal where personal data was sold o on to campaign groups.
The social media giant was able to d dodge a larger fine as the offence h happened before European General Data Protection (GDPR) rules came in in, which could have seen the punis ishment exceed £1 billion.
Mr Jones, making his first appearance a at Prime Minister’s Questions , did not get to put his question to There resa May, who was representing the UK at the 2018 NATO summit in Brussels.
Instead, he challenged the minister for Cabinet Office, David Lidington – the de facto deputy prime minister who was standing in for Mrs May – to open a judge-led inquiry into what happened at the European referendum
The Bristol North West MP, whose constituency voted by more than 60 per cent to remain, said: “The information commissioner has fined Facebook for its involvement in the Cambridge Analytica scandal and the Electoral Commission has concluded the leave campaign broke electoral law. Is now not the time to set up a judge-led inquiry into the referendum because if the British people have been duped by Brexit shysters they deserve to know about it?”
Mr Lidington replied, saying: “The point he has made focused on the possibility of criminal offences having been committed. Rightly, we are in a country where it is not for ministers either to initiate or to stop criminal investigations or possible prosecutions.
“Where there is evidence, that should be brought to the attention of the police and the prosecuting authorities and then let the law take its course.”
The senior minister said the Government would “consider” the information commissioner’s recommendations on Facebook before replying.
Second referendum supporter Mr Jones said the Electoral Commission and Information Commissioner did not have the powers to properly address the breaches of data protection law and wants to see ministers step in.
Speaking to the Bristol Post afterwards, Mr Jones said: “The British people expect democratic elections to be legal. The leave campaign seems to have been led by people hell bent on doing whatever it took – regardless of the rules – to inflict their Brexit plans on the UK.