BREAKING NEWS: Vote Leave Fronted by Johnson and Gove Referred to Police

The Official Brexit organisation – fronted by Boris Johnson and Michael Gove – breached electoral law by coordinating illegally with another group.

The Vote Leave campaign has been fined and referred to the police after being found guilty of busting spending limits for the Brexit referendum.

The official Brexit organisation – fronted by Boris Johnson and Michael Gove – breached electoral law by coordinating illegally with another group, the Electoral Commission concluded.

The watchdog has referred David Halsall, the “responsible person” for Vote Leave, to the Metropolitan Police for making false declarations of campaign spending.

Evidence also shows that BeLeave spent more than £675,000 with Aggregate IQ under a joint plan with Vote Leave. This spending should have been declared by Vot Leave. It means Vote Leave massively overspent its legal spending limits.

The watchdog said it had imposed punitive fines on Vote Leave because it said the group had refused to cooperate fully with its investigation. Darren Grimes, the founder of BeLeave, and the Vote Leave official David Halsall have been reported to the police.

The commission said it had shared its investigation files with the Metropolitan police to investigate whether any other offences had been committed outside the watchdog’s remit.

The Electoral Commission chief executive, Claire Bassett, was scathing about Vote Leave’s refusal to cooperate. “We have in fact issued a record fine for failure to cooperate with a statutory notice because we found it so difficult to get Vote Leave to work with us in this investigation.”

The commission had found “serious breaches of the laws put in place by parliament to ensure fairness and transparency at elections and referendums.

The investigation also found the campaign group Veterans for Britain inaccurately reported a donation it received from Vote Leave. It has also been fined.

 

 

 

 

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