Ukip misspent more than £385,000 of EU funding on its own general election campaign and to bolster its Brexit drive before the referendum, a leaked official report has alleged. The party is accused of breaking strict European Union spending rules on polling in its key target constituencies and on opinion surveys in the lead up to the vote to leave the EU. The EU awards taxpayer funding to major groupings of national parties in the European parliament. Ukip belongs to and dominates the Alliance for Direct Democracy in Europe (ADDE), made up of populist right-wing parties. The claims that the ADDE misused its finances to boost Ukip campaigns are contained in an official EU parliament audit report dated November 10.

Source: The Times November 17, 2016 17:04 UTC