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Winston Churchill's grandson today demanded the entire "damn" system is "blown up and started again" as MPs blasted "cheating" in the official Brexit campaign.

In a powerful speech, Tory MP Sir Nicholas Soames appeared to join calls for a second referendum after a watchdog found Vote Leave broke electoral law and reported the campaign to police.

The Commons was hushed as he declared: "One of the great glories of this sadly now diminished country was our electoral and democratic system.

"And this example today is gross.

"And I say that if we are to retain the integrity and the trust of the voting public, the whole damn thing needs to be blown up and started all over again."

Remain-backing MPs erupted into cheers after Sir Nicholas gave the short speech during an urgent debate on the Electoral Commission's report.

(Image: Christopher Furlong)

If Sir Nicholas was backing a second Brexit referendum he will be the fourth Tory MP to do so publicly.

Another, Sarah Wollaston, told MPs today: "We're talking about deliberate cheating.

"We cannot have confidence that this referendum was secure and it should be re-run."

Labour MP Liam Byrne said: "This house is the guardian of free and fair elections.

"It is now clear this referendum result was corrupt because it was bought, quite possibly with Russian money.

"Which minister will now ask the Director of Public Prosecutions to consider a joint enterprise prosecution so that it's not just the staff of these campaigns that are prosecuted, but the governing minds as well?"

(Image: Parliamentlive.tv)

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Lib Dem MP Tom Brake asked if Boris Johnson - one of several MPs who fronted Vote Leave - will be found "jointly liable" for Vote Leave's £61,000 in fines.

"They cheated and broke the law," Mr Brake added.

Labour MP David Lammy proclaimed: "Declare the referendum void."

(Image: PA)

It comes after a long-awaited watchdog report into Vote Leave, the official Brexit campaign.

The Electoral Commission slammed Vote Leave's decision to hand more than £600,000 to a then 23-year-old fashion student - which his group BeLeave spent on a data analytics and voter targeting firm.

The massive donation to Darren Grimes, just days before the 2016 referendum, meant Vote Leave did not breach its £7million spending limit.

But today the Commission said there was "significant evidence of joint working" between Mr Grimes and Vote Leave. That meant Vote Leave should have declared the spending as its own, the watchdog said.

(Image: Channel 4 News)

Therefore Vote Leave actually spent £7.4million - breaking the limit, the Commission said.

Today the Metropolitan Police said in a statement: "The Electoral Commission has referred potential criminal offences under section 123(4) of the Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act 2000.

"Once the Electoral Commission has provided all the relevant material to the MPS, this matter will be assessed by officers from the Met's Special Enquiry Team."

The Electoral Commission report has not accused any Tory ministers who backed Vote Leave, who included Boris Johnson and Micheal Gove, of wrongdoing.

But they faced questions today over what they knew - with SNP MP Tommy Sheppard demanding ministers involved in Vote Leave “cease to be on the government payroll”.

Labour MP Stella Creasy said: "The minister confirmed that there is now an ongoing police investigation as a result of this report. Does she therefore not think it is right that all those who could potentially be part of that police investigation recuse themselves from government until it is concluded?

"Surely lawmakers should not be law breakers."

Labour MP Chuka Umunna called for an urgent public inquiry, telling the Commons: "Members of the Cabinet sat in an organisation which has been found to have flouted our democracy."

He asked what Environment Secretary Michael Gove, International Trade Secretary Liam Fox, Transport Secretary Chris Grayling and Brexit Secretary Dominic Raab knew about what was going on

He added: "Given there was a 4% gap between Leave and Remain, and Vote Leave overspent by just under 8%, does the minister agree with me that we cannot say with confidence that this foul play did not impact on the result?"

(Image: REX/Shutterstock)

But Tory Brexiteer Christopher Chope accused Remain-backing MPs of “synthetic outrage”, adding they had wanted the government to keep working through the ‘purdah’ period before the referendum.

Other MPs pointed to a multi-million pound leaflet campaign before the referendum that was funded by the government.

Cabinet Office minister Chloe Smith refused to address questions about what Tory ministers knew, saying the Electoral Commission had not blamed them.

She said the government should not “interfere” with an independent investigation or police probes.

Bizarrely, speaking at 12.43pm, she added: "I can’t believe that the Labour party needs the answer to that this early in the morning."

She added "that the rules were broken doesn’t actually mean the rules in themselves were flawed", and said: "We will not be re-running the referendum."

Vote Leave's response in full

A Vote Leave spokesperson said: "The Electoral Commission’s report contains a number of false accusations and incorrect assertions that are wholly inaccurate and do not stand up to scrutiny.

"It is astonishing that nobody from Vote Leave has been interviewed by the Commission in the production of this report, nor indeed at any point in the past two years, despite Vote Leave repeatedly making it clear they are willing to do so.

"Yet the Commission has interviewed the so-called ‘whistleblowers’ who have no knowledge of how Vote Leave operated and whose credibility has been seriously called into question.

"Vote Leave has provided evidence to the Electoral Commission proving there was no wrongdoing. And yet despite clear evidence of wrongdoing by the Remain campaign, the Commission has chosen to ignore this and refused to launch an investigation.

"All this suggests that the supposedly impartial Commission is motivated by a political agenda rather than uncovering the facts.

"The Commission has failed to follow due process, and in doing so has based its conclusions on unfounded claims and conspiracy theories.

"We will consider the options available to us, but are confident that these findings will be overturned."