Brexiteer overturns £20k fine

THE founder of pro-Brexit campaign group BeLeave has won his appeal against a £20,000 fine imposed by the Electoral Commission.

Darren Grimes was fined last year after being accused of breaching spending rules during the EU referendum campaign three years ago. But the 25-yearold insisted he was “completely innocent” of making false declarations in relation to a £680,000 donation to his youthfocused BeLeave group from the main Vote Leave campaign.

The Electoral Commission – which regulates political parties, members and campaigners – found that BeLeave “spent more than £675,000 with (Canadian data firm) Aggregate IQ under a common plan with Vote Leave”, which should have been declared by the latter but was not. This spending took Vote Leave over its £7 million legal spending limit by almost £500,000.

Mr Grimes, a former fashion student originally from County Durham, raised £93,956 via an online crowdfunding campaign to appeal against the verdict of the commission at the Mayor’s and City of London Court in central London. The commission had misinterpreted the law and set a key legal test “too high” on whether BeLeave had been correctly registered on official forms, the court heard.

Mr Grimes had said that he had intended to register the organisation BeLeave and not himself as an individual on the forms.

The judge said Mr Grimes had tried to meet his obligations to the commission in filling out the forms, and that his actions were not dishonest

Following the ruling, Mr

Grimes said: “I am delighted and relieved that the court has found me innocent.”