Vote Leave, the official campaign to quit the EU, faces fresh questions over controversial payments it made to other anti-Europe movements during its successful referendum battle. The Electoral Commission has denied a claim by Vote Leave’s chief strategist, Dominic Cummings, that it had given them “a letter of permission” to make the donations to other campaigns, which are now under investigation. The commission announced a new investigation last week into donations Vote Leave made of £625,000 to BeLeave and £100,000 to Veterans for Britain, and whether the officially sanctioned organisation had exceeded its official spending limits. The mystery ‘letter’, the dark ads – and Brexit’s online guru Read moreCummings had previously claimed that the Electoral Commission gave them permission “in writing” to make the donations. At stake is whether Vote Leave deliberately engineered a way of exceeding the £7m funding limits mandated by law – and if, as Cummings believes, it had permission to do so.

Source: The Guardian November 25, 2017 21:01 UTC