Police say Brexit campaign broke law but claim insufficient evidence to continue

This article is more than 1 year old

This article is more than 1 year old

The Metropolitan police have announced they will take no further action against the Leave.EU campaign for spending offences in the Brexit referendum, despite accepting that it broke the law.

In a statement released on Friday, the Met concluded there was insufficient evidence to justify further investigation of the group, which was set up by the insurance businessman Arron Banks.

“It is clear that whilst some technical breaches of electoral law were committed by Leave.EU in respect of the spending return submitted for their campaign, there is insufficient evidence to justify any further criminal investigation,” the statement said.

It added that Leave.EU’s responsible person for legal purposes, Liz Bilney, a business associate of Banks, would also face no further police action.

The investigation was launched after the Electoral Commission concluded in May 2018 that the group had committed multiple breaches of electoral spending law during the EU referendum and fined it £70,000.

The breaches included exceeding the legal spending cap by at least 10% and delivering incorrect spending and transactions records.

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Leave.EU appealed against the fine, claiming the investigation was motivated by political bias. However, after a hearing earlier this year, a judge at the central London county court upheld the Electoral Commission findings against the group.

Separately, the National Crime Agency is continuing to investigate Leave.EU, Banks and Bilney, as well as other individuals and entities, following the referral of material from a second Electoral Commission investigation.

The referral was announced in November amid concerns that Banks was not the true source of £8m donated to Leave.EU.

The NCA said at the time: “Our investigation relates to suspected electoral law offences covered by that referral, as well as any associated offences.” It confirmed on Friday that its own investigation continues.

The Met is continuing to pursue a third investigation into the official pro-Brexit campaign Vote Leave, as well as the youth campaign BeLeave, over separate spending allegations. Vote Leave settled a £61,000 fine earlier this year, while BeLeave successfully appealed a £20,000 fine.