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The detail of more than £4.5 million of spending by 48 campaigners at the EU Referendum has been published by the Electoral Commission, the independent political finance regulator.

The data released today covers those campaigners that reported spend of between £10,000 and £250,000 at the EU referendum. Any individual or organisation which intended to spend more than £10,000 campaigning for an outcome at the referendum was required to register with the Commission as a ‘permitted participant’.

Campaigners which spent under £250,000 were required to submit spending returns to the Commission by 23 September 2016. Campaigners over this threshold have until 23 December 2016 to submit an independently audited spending return to the Commission and this data will be published in due course.

The Commission has also published today the campaign spending of two campaigners who spent over £250,000 – Mr Darren Grimes and We Are Europe – as they submitted their independently audited spending return in advance of the statutory deadline.

Commenting on the data, Bob Posner, the Electoral Commission’s Director of Political Finance and Regulation & Legal Counsel said:

“The information we have published today provides a first chance to see the amounts of spending by many of the campaigners at the referendum.

“The publication of this data is vital in ensuring transparency and accountability, both in how campaigners obtained funds as well as how they spent them.”

There were 123 registered campaigners at the EU Referendum. A breakdown of the 48 campaigners whose campaign spending we have published can be seen in the notes to editors. A further 47 campaigners declared that, although registering they did not spend over £10,000 on campaigning during the regulated period and as a result are not required to report their expenditure. A list of those campaigners can be seen in the notes to editors.

The Commission will publish details of the remaining 28 campaigners yet to submit a spending return in the New Year.

Details of the campaign spending published today, including copies of individual invoices or receipts for costs over £200, are available on Commission’s online interactive database here.

Reported Donations

Under the legislation, registered campaigners were required to complete four pre-poll reports setting out what donations and loans they had received over £7,500 between 1 February 2016 and 23 June 2016. These were published by the Electoral Commission and a summary of the pre-poll reports is available here.

As part of their spending return, campaigners that spent under £250,000 are also required to report a combined total for any donations accepted with a value between £500 and £7,500.

Campaigners reported accepting £319,278 in donations valued between £500 and £7,500.

Taken together campaigners that spent under £250,000 reported accepting donations totalling £2,476,555.

The breakdown between campaigners registered for both outcomes was:

Late reporting

Four campaigners, Community, Economists for Remain, Veterans for Britain and Traditional Unionist Voice – TUV submitted their spending return after the 23 September deadline. The TUV submitted a nil return. The Commission will consider each of these reporting failures in line with its Enforcement Policy.

Comparisons to other UK held referendums

The EU referendum saw more registered campaigners than at any UK held referendum since the Commission was established in 2000. In addition, campaigners who spent under £250,000 raised more funds and spent more on campaigning during the specified regulated period than at any previous UK referendum. You can see a summary of this below:

For further information contact:

The Electoral Commission press office on 020 7271 0704 or press@electoralcommission.org.uk

Out of office hours 07789 920 414

Notes to editors

The Electoral Commission is an independent body set up by the UK Parliament. Our aim is integrity and public confidence in the UK’s democratic process. We regulate party and election finance and set standards for well-run elections and are responsible for the conduct and regulation of referendums held under the Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act (2000).

The Electoral Commission has specific responsibilities and functions in relation to the delivery and regulation of referendums held under PPERA, which applies to any referendum Bill brought before the UK Parliament unless specifically stated otherwise.

Reported spending by campaigners

A full list of registered campaigners for the EU referendum can be seen here

Registered campaigners are limited as to how much they can spend during the formal ‘referendum period’ (which began on 15 April and runs until the close of poll on 23 June). Designated lead campaigners have a spending limit of £7 million each. Other registered campaigners have a spending limit of £700,000. Political parties which register as campaigners have a spending limit based on the percentage of the vote they received at the last general election. See our media handbook for information here.

The campaigners who submitted returns indicating spending of £10,000 or less were:

For more information about the rules regarding donations and loans at the EU referendum, see our media handbook here.

The figures reported by campaigners have been rounded to the nearest £. Exact figures are available on our website.