Arron Banks and his Leave.EU colleague Andy Wigmore risk being summoned to give evidence to MPs after the Brexit-backing duo suddenly said they would not appear before a select committee next week, claiming they were victims of a “witch hunt”.



The two men had been due to give evidence at the committee’s inquiry into fake news next Tuesday but the campaigners for British parliamentary sovereignty announced on Friday afternoon that they would not turn up because the committee was biased against them.



“It is perfectly clear that the committee, which comprises only of remain supporting MPs, is conducting a coordinated ‘Witch Hunt’ of Leave groups involving the Electoral Commission & the ICO. You have called not witnesses from the Remain campaign or associated groups,” Banks wrote in a letter released on Twitter.

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The digital, culture, media and sport select committee said it would consider its response on Tuesday, and could seek a formal summons for Banks and Wigmore if they continue to refuse to appear, the second time it has done so in a week.

Damian Collins, the committee’s chairman, tweeted that it was not only his committee “that has questions” for Banks and Wigmore, and said there were ongoing investigations by the Electoral Commission, the Information Commissioner and a court in Mississippi. Later Banks tweeted that “we have only delayed our appearance”.



In his letter Banks accused the committee of colluding with a pro-remain campaign group called the Fair Vote Project, which has brought a legal action in the US, alleging that Leave.EU data was illegally sent abroad to be processed at the University of Mississippi. Banks denies the allegation and complained that the MPs had released evidence from a witness in that case early “in order to aid this group”.

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The Fair Vote Project said that it had brought the case to obtain an order to preserve data from Banks’s insurance company Eldon Insurance and a second company called Big Data Dolphins, “so that the authorities can investigate whether or not UK citizen data was processed improperly”.



Kyle Taylor, the director of the Fair Vote Project, added: “If their claim that Eldon Insurance and Big Data Dolphins are not connected to Leave.EU is correct, why are they now claiming that a court case in Mississippi about these private companies affects their ability to appear before the DCMS select committee in their capacity as key figures in Leave.EU?”



Dominic Cummings, Vote Leave’s campaign director, is already subject to a formal summons by June 20 before the same group of MPs after he repeatedly refused to agree to attend on the dates suggested, saying he wanted to wait for formal investigations from the Electoral Commission and the Information Commissioner to conclude.

