Details of major campaign spending during EU Referendum published by Electoral Commission

24 Feb 2017 02:00 PM

The detail of more than £27 million of campaigner spending at the EU Referendum has been published by the Electoral Commission, the independent political finance regulator.

The Commission has published the data provided in line with its statutory duty as outlined in section 124 of the Political Parties Elections and Referendums Act 2000. It comprises returns from seventeen registered campaigners, each of which reported spend of more than £250,000.

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

“The spending returns that we have published indicate that this was the most well-funded referendum ever in the UK. Voters must be given an opportunity to see what campaigners at last year’s historic referendum spent their money on in order to secure votes.”

After an initial inspection of these spending returns, the Commission is considering a number of issues under its Enforcement Policy. Investigations have been opened into the spending returns submitted by both the lead campaigners – The IN Campaign Limited (‘Britain Stronger in Europe’) and Vote Leave Limited – as well as the Liberal Democrats, and Mr Peter Harris.

The Commission is undertaking further examination of the spending returns submitted by the five other campaigners before deciding whether to formally assess these returns. The Commission is also assessing Grassroots Out Limited which appears to have missing donation and/or loan reports in its return for spending under £250,000. Only after an assessment has taken place will the Commission consider whether to open investigations into these returns. The Commission will publish the outcome of its investigations on its website.

Issues under consideration

Issues under consideration include the following, although further issues involving these or other campaigners may come to light:

• Both the lead campaigners – The IN Campaign Limited (‘Britain Stronger in Europe’) and Vote Leave Limited – do not appear to have delivered all the necessary invoices and receipts to support their returns. There are also issues with the delivery of all the details required in the return, including supplier details for a number of payments. The Liberal Democrats spending return also appears to be missing some details including invoices, receipts and supplier names.
• One campaigner, the European Movement of the UK Limited, declared a total spend of £329,000 but has supplied payment details of only £290,000.
• Two campaigners, Labour Leave and the UK Independence Party submitted returns with discrepancies in the way they reported the same campaigning activity.
• One campaigner, Mr Peter Harris, delivered his spending return late and without the required audit report. Another campaigner, Conservatives IN, appears to have delivered a donation report late.

The Commission has not yet determined whether any offences have been committed in respect of these issues.

Bob Posner added:

“It is disappointing that some campaigners, including both lead campaigners, appear to have not fully reported all their spending as they should have. Missing spending details undermines transparency and makes the returns harder for the public to understand. Where it appears campaigners have not fulfilled their legal obligations, we have begun and will continue to take action to deal with this.

“Our statutory role requires us to publish spending returns provided to us by campaigners which we expect to be in a fit state. To make a number of these ready for publication, the Commission has had to work with some campaigners to improve the quality of information originally submitted. This has included calling campaigners in to explain their returns. The Commission will continue to examine campaigners spending returns until it is satisfied that they are complete and accurate.”

Campaigners that spent over £250,000 were required to submit an independently audited spending return to the Commission by 23 December 2016. A breakdown of the seventeen campaigners whose campaign spending we have published today can be seen in the notes to editors.

The spending returns of those who reported spend under £250,000 and two campaigners who spent in excess of that were published in November 2016. The total spend reported by all registered campaigners at the EU Referendum was over £32 million.

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

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