Vote Leave broke electoral law, Electoral Commission expected to say – BBC News https://t.co/OLgnv1GxCb — Mike Smithson (@MSmithsonPB) July 4, 2018

It gnaws away at the democratic legitimacy of Brexit

Two days before the critical cabinet meeting at Chequers on Brexit the Electoral Commission report on Vote Leave that is being published looks set to state that the officially designated Leave campaign broke electoral law.

This has the potential to take the debate to a new stage and could provide the peg for those wanting to take further legal action to try to impede the process of the UK leaving the EU.

On the political front it provides the ammunition for those trying to undermine the argument that the referendum outcome legitimately reflects the “will of the people”.

This should strengthen TMay’s hand with her cabinet hardliners at the critical cabinet meeting at Chequers on Friday. This is because the more the referendum outcome itself is questioned the harder it is to to interpret the June 2016 result in a manner that those wanting a hard Brexit have been asserting.

In recent days it has been said that Mrs May is not herself convinced of Brexit but is only proceeding out of a sense of duty.

What could ease the pressure a touch is that the meeting is likely to be overshadowed in the media by the England’s quarter final in the World Cup the following day. There’d be less point in BoJo/DDavis/Foxy quitting if what’s dominating the news is the football.

Mike Smithson

Follow @MSmithsonPB



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