The official Brexit campaign has been fined £40,000 for sending thousands of unsolicited text messages during the 2016 referendum campaign.

The Information Commissioner's Office said it found that Vote Leave sent a total of 196,154 messages promoting the aims of the campaign, with the majority including a link to its website.

Vote Leave was unable to prove that the people who received the messages had given their consent, the ICO said - a key part of electronic marketing law.

Director of investigations Steve Eckersley said: "Spam texts are a real nuisance for millions of people and we will take action against organisations who disregard the law.

"Direct marketing is not just about selling products and services, it's also about promoting an organisation's aims and ideals.


"Political campaigns and parties, like any other organisations, have to comply with the law."

According to the ICO, Vote Leave told them that the information it used to contact people was obtained through website enquiries, text responses to promotional leaflets and entrants to a football competition.

After the referendum, the group claimed it had deleted evidence of the consent relied upon to send the messages, the ICO said.

But a Vote Leave spokesman said this was done with the agreement of the ICO.

"So their decision to prosecute us now feels particularly vindictive," he continued.

"Both during and after the referendum, Vote Leave complied with both the letter and spirit of the law.

"We have exchanged 46 letters with the ICO since the referendum, most of them refuting conspiracy theories peddled by people unhappy with the referendum result.

"To be fined £40,000 for fewer than 20 complaints which they were aware of over two years ago, shows their desperation to pin something on us after we had rebutted all of their other ludicrous theories."

Meanwhile, another pro-Brexit campaign group has been fined £9,000 by the Electoral Commission for failing to report two donations during the referendum campaign.

Labour Leave, which was set up by Brexit-supporting Labour MPs, received 11 donations worth £420,000 during the campaign.

It failed to report two of them.

The Electoral Commission said the group had a responsibility to accurately report donations "so the public could see where the money they used for campaigns came from".

"The responsible person for Labour Leave had an important legal duty to accurately report all donations," said director of regulation Louise Edwards.

"In this case, they failed to do so which led to a disappointing lack of transparency into the group's finances."

The campaign group said the fine was "disproportionate" for what were "two administrative mistakes made", but had accepted the penalty and paid it in full.

Labour Leave was required to disclose before the 2016 vote which donations it received.

After polling day, it had to submit a spending return showing all donations accepted.

Ms Edwards said the Electoral Commission found that two donations, each worth £10,000, had not been declared either before or after the referendum.

These were non-cash donations of office space - from Better for the Country Ltd and John Mills Ltd, the latter the firm run by Labour Leave chairman John Mills.

Labour Leave was fined £1,000 for not including the donations in pre-vote returns and £8,000 for doing the same post-referendum.

A Labour Leave spokesperson told Sky News: "The Electoral Commission's rules around reporting are long, complex, confusing and unclear.

"Mr Mills had hoped that in their investigation the Electoral Commission would have given people the benefit of the doubt if they had shown they have gone to significant lengths to try to declare all details in the right way.

"Mr Mills provided the Electoral Commission with comprehensive, unredacted, audited accounts, detailing all incoming and outgoings. It would be difficult to be more transparent than that.

"Again, Labour Leave has accepted the result of the Electoral Commission, and paid the fine in full and before the payment deadline."

The Electoral Commission also announced it had received £6,250 in fines from the Conservatives for inaccurate reporting relating to the 2017 election.

In addition, the party has paid another £5,050 for inaccurate quarterly donations and transactions reports.

The Lib Dems, meanwhile, have been hit with a £4,750 fine for inaccurate quarterly donations reports.

Ms Edwards said: "The reporting requirements are clear, so it is always disappointing when parties - especially well-funded ones - fail to provide accurate reports."