Electoral Commission accuses Vote Leave of breaking campaign spending rules

The Electoral Commission has found Vote Leave, the pro-Brexit campaign backed by foreign secretary Boris Johnson and Conservative front-bencher Michael Gove, broke legal spending limits during the Brexit referendum.

The investigation was launched last year over claims that the campaign had spent over £600,000 on online advertising by funnelling money to the pro-Brexit BeLeave campaign, ostensibly run by fashion student Darren Grimes.

A whistleblower from BeLeave said in March that Vote Leave was in control of their campaign since it donated money to them.

Vote Leave, which was led by Dominic Cummings, was legally allowed to channel money to other campaigners so as to avoid going over its official spending limit of £7m. But, if there was a common plan, that money should have been counted as part of Vote Leave's spending total.

If the Electoral Commission continues with its initial decision, Vote Leave could face a hefty fine and possible criminal charges. This would follow the fine on unofficial Brexit campaign, Leave.EU.

On Wednesday ahead of the release of the commissions' preliminary conclusions, Vote Leave itself leaked to the BBC the Electoral Commission’s initial findings, which it had been given for comment. Campaign chief executive Matthew Elliott submitted a 500-page dossier to the Electoral Commission rebutting the claims.

The Electoral Commission said it was “unusual” for the subject of an investigation to try to pre-empt its findings.

Elliott, former chief executive of Vote Leave, told the BBC he believed the campaign had acted “within the letter of the law and the spirit of the law and the spirit of how you should conduct a campaign” and said the commission had not accepted its version of events.

However, Vote Leave has now admitted there was email between Anthony Clake, who donated the cash, and Vote Leave campaign director Cummings about passing the donation on to BeLeave.

Elliott said the watchdog had found four potential breaches of election law: going over £7m spending limit, making an inaccurate return of campaign expenditure, missing invoices and receipts, and failing to comply with a statutory notice.

Elliott told Sky News he believed the whistleblower of BeLeave was “completely lying” and was motivated by the desire of a second referendum.