Leave.EU campaign group under investigation

The Electoral Commission is to investigate the Leave.EU group over its spending during the 2016 EU referendum campaign.

The Leave.EU campaign was headed by Nigel Farage and the businessman Arron Banks. It is understood that the group worked with the data firm Cambridge Analytica which uses social media to influence voters.

Cambridge Analytica’s involvement was not declared to the election watchdog, which has concluded that Leave.EU has a case to answer. If the commission finds political spending laws to have been breached, it has the power to report the campaign group to the police.

An Electoral Commission spokesperson said: “The Electoral Commission has begun an investigation into Leave.EU’s EU Referendum spending return. This followed an assessment which concluded that there were reasonable grounds to suspect that potential offences under the law may have occurred.

“The investigation is focused on whether one or more donations – including of services – accepted by Leave.EU was impermissible; and whether Leave.EU’s spending return was complete.

“The time taken to complete an investigation varies on a case-by-case basis. Once the investigation is complete, the Commission will decide whether any breaches have occurred and, if so, what further action may be appropriate, in line with its Enforcement Policy.  The outcome of concluded cases can be seen on the Commission’s website."

Leave.EU was not the official Brexit campaign group, the Electoral comission choosing the Vote Leave organisation on the grounds that "it better demonstrated that it has the structures in place to ensure the views of other campaigners are represented in the delivery of its campaign.”

* Electoral Commission http://www.electoralcommission.org.uk/

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