“The evidence we have found is clear and substantial.”
Vote Leave has been fined £61,000 and reported to the police by the Electoral Commission, after the watchdog found “significant evidence” of coordination with another campaign group, BeLeave.
The watchdog found that Vote Leave, which was the official campaign for Britain leaving the EU during the referendum, exceeded its legal spending limit of £7m by almost £500,000.
The group also returned an “incomplete and inaccurate spending report”, with almost £234,501 reported incorrectly, and invoices missing for £12,849.99 of spending.
The investigation also found “significant evidence of joint working” between the group and BeLeave.
The founders of both campaigns, Darren Grimes and David Halsall, have been reported to the police. BeLeave also exceeded their spending limit and wrongly reporting their spending.
Bob Posner, of the Electoral Commission, has released the following statement about Vote Leave: “They have resisted our investigation from the start, including contesting our right as the statutory regulator to open the investigation. It has refused to cooperate, refused our requests to put forward a representative for interview, and forced us to use our legal powers to compel it to provide evidence. Nevertheless, the evidence we have found is clear and substantial, and can now be seen in our report.”
As reported by the BBC, a Vote Leave spokesperson said: “We will consider the options available to us, but are confident that these findings will be overturned.”
The UK is due to officially leave the European Union at 23:00 on 29 March, 2019.
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