The 23 June 2016 EU referendum produced a narrow numerical result but a large administrative and campaigning operation. Leave won 17,410,742 votes, or 51.9% of valid votes, while Remain received 16,141,241 votes, or 48.1%. The Electoral Commission recorded 33,577,342 votes cast from 46,500,001 registered electors, for a 72.2% turnout.
Contents
- The referendum vote
- Scale of the campaign operation
- Campaign spending and limits
- Donations, loans and campaign participation
- What voters knew and how they received information
- Fairness, rules and compliance findings
The referendum vote
The Electoral Commission’s referendum cost report provides the headline measurements for polling day. Of the 33,577,342 electors who cast a ballot, 25,359 ballot papers were rejected. The two outcomes were separated by 1,269,501 votes, calculated from the reported Leave and Remain totals.
| Measure | Result |
|---|---|
| Registered electors | 46,500,001 |
| Votes cast | 33,577,342 |
| Turnout | 72.2% |
| Remain votes | 16,141,241 (48.1%) |
| Leave votes | 17,410,742 (51.9%) |
| Rejected ballot papers | 25,359 |
The campaign period ran from 15 April to 23 June 2016, according to the Electoral Commission regulatory report. The legislation had a longer path: the referendum bill was introduced to Parliament on 28 May 2015, and the European Union Referendum Act became law on 17 December 2015.
Postal participation formed a significant part of the electorate. More than 8.5 million postal votes were issued, representing 18.4% of the UK electorate. The Electoral Commission reported that 7.3 million postal votes were returned, equal to 87.6% of those issued.
Scale of the campaign operation
The referendum involved 123 registered campaign groups. The Electoral Commission designated two official lead campaign groups: Vote Leave and Britain Stronger in Europe, also referred to in the report as The In Campaign Ltd.
Polling day required a substantial workforce and physical network. A total of 382 counting officers set up 41,050 polling stations. The Electoral Commission reported that 107,100 staff worked in polling stations on referendum day, while more than 51,500 staff worked on verifying and counting ballots.
The public-information operation also had a measurable scale. The Electoral Commission distributed 28 million information booklets to households across the UK. Its total cost for conducting the referendum was £129.128 million. Of that amount, counting officer and regional counting officer costs accounted for £94.541 million.
The Commission’s own operating costs were £7.998 million. This included £1.642 million in direct staff costs, £6.025 million for public awareness activity and £0.331 million for administering regional and counting officer claims. Costs relating to designated organisations were £26.589 million, including £1.200 million in grants and £25.389 million for designated-organisation mailings and other Royal Mail costs.
Campaign spending and limits
All campaigners spending more than £10,000 were required to register with the Electoral Commission. Across the referendum, registered campaigners reported total spending of £32,642,158. Leave-aligned registered campaigners reported £13,332,569, while Remain-aligned registered campaigners reported £19,309,588.
The two official lead campaigns each had a £7.0 million spending limit. The In Campaign Ltd reported spending £6,767,584, or 97% of its limit. Vote Leave Ltd reported £6,747,466, or 96% of its limit.
The Electoral Commission regulatory report recorded the following limits and reported spending for other major registered campaigners:
| Campaigner | Limit | Reported spending | Used |
|---|---|---|---|
| Labour Party | £5.5m | £4,859,243 | 88% |
| UKIP | £4.0m | £1,354,393 | 34% |
| Liberal Democrats | £3.0m | £2,223,901 | 74% |
| Democratic Unionist Party | £700,000 | £425,622 | 61% |
| Green Party | £700,000 | £48,815 | 7% |
| Plaid Cymru | £700,000 | £27,495 | 4% |
| Scottish National Party | £700,000 | £90,830 | 13% |
The combined total for 58 other registered campaigners was £10,101,809, equal to 25% of their combined £40.6 million limit. Political parties that registered to campaign reported £9,030,300 in spending. Other registered campaigners reported joint spending of £127,627.
Donations, loans and campaign participation
Registered campaigners reported donations totaling £30,714,106. Leave-aligned campaigners reported £15,854,432, or 52% of the total, while Remain-aligned campaigners reported £14,859,674, or 48%. Registered campaigners also reported loans totaling £6,071,940.
Not every registered participant reported spending above the threshold. The Electoral Commission recorded 48 campaigners filing nil or below-threshold spending returns, including 10 other political parties. Seven campaigners failed to submit returns and became subject to enforcement action.
Media commentary cited in the Electoral Commission regulatory report described the staffing of several organisations at the end of 2015. Vote Leave was reported as having 30 permanent staff, Leave.EU 84 staff and The In Campaign Ltd 20 staff. The Commission also noted media comments that Vote Leave employed 46 professional staff on its ground campaign and that Leave.EU employed 60 people in a call centre. These are reported media-commentary figures cited by the Commission, not independent staffing measurements by the Commission.
The Electoral Commission’s investigation into Leave.EU found that it reported spending of £693,094 against a £700,000 limit, leaving £6,906 of headroom on paper. The investigation said at least £77,380 had not been included in its return, taking the campaign more than 10% over its limit. Leave.EU reported three regulated loans from Arron Banks totaling £6 million. The reported start dates were 15 March, 31 March and 21 April 2016.
The written agreements examined in the investigation showed different dates for two loans: the £3 million loan was entered on 4 September 2015 and the £2 million loan on 10 March 2016. The investigation also found that the interest rate was 4% above bank base rate rather than 0%, and that the repayment date was 31 December 2016 rather than 31 December 2017.
The Commission identified 54 invoices worth £176,793 that appeared to be reportable Leave.EU campaign spending. Fifteen invoices totaled £129,720, but only £49,329 was reported after apportionment. The Commission said it could not verify the accuracy of that apportionment because records were inadequate. It also reviewed invoices showing BFTCL paid Goddard Gunster £190,000 in monthly retainer fees between 21 September 2015 and 1 April 2016; a proportion of services paid before the regulated period still counted during that period and should have been reported.
What voters knew and how they received information
The Electoral Commission EU referendum report included a post-referendum survey about information and communication. Overall, 62% said they had enough information to make an informed decision, while 28% disagreed. Agreement varied by age: 52% among 18–34-year-olds, 63% among 35–54-year-olds and 70% among people aged 55 and over.
There was a clear difference between the two possible outcomes. Some 65% said they had enough information about what would happen in a Remain vote, compared with 45% who said they had enough information about a Leave vote. Among people who said they voted Remain, 68% agreed they had enough information about a Remain outcome. Among people who said they voted Leave, the corresponding figure was 69%. For a Leave outcome, 64% of Leave voters said they had enough information, compared with 31% of Remain voters.
The survey measured several information channels. The internet was used by 51% of respondents for referendum information and television by 49%. News sources were cited by 28%, while 23% cited media sources. Thirteen percent accessed information from a leaflet or flyer from a campaign or political party.
When asked about preferred communication formats, 40% chose leaflets or booklets delivered through the door. Email messages were preferred by 16%, television broadcasts or news sources by 16%, and television or radio advertising by 12%. These percentages describe survey responses, not the share of total campaign communications.
Fairness, rules and compliance findings
The same EU referendum report found that 52% disagreed that the campaigns were fair and balanced, while 34% agreed. Among those who considered the campaigns unfair or unbalanced, 31% attributed that view to the campaigns being one-sided, unbalanced, biased or partial. Another 31% said the information was inaccurate or misleading.
Views of media and broadcasting were different: 37% thought the referendum was not covered in a fair and balanced way, while 49% thought it was. In the Electoral Commission regulatory report, 56% of respondents found the common-plan rules difficult to understand, and only 16% found them easy. Separately, 56% considered campaigner spending limits too low or unrealistic for modern campaigning, and 56% found the rules on joint spending difficult to understand.
The Electoral Commission’s Vote Leave investigation concluded that Vote Leave and BeLeave should have been treated as incurring £676,015.37 of joint spending. Aggregate IQ services accounted for £675,315.18 of that amount, with £700.19 of additional spending. On that basis, Vote Leave’s referendum spending was £7,449,079, which was £449,079 above its £7 million limit.
The investigation said Vote Leave’s spending return was inaccurate in relation to 43 items totaling £236,501.44. Eight payments over £200, totaling £12,849.99, were missing invoices or receipts when the return was delivered. BeLeave was never registered, although Mr Grimes incurred more than £675,000 of spending on its behalf; only £21.51 of BeLeave spending was reported before May 2016.
The report listed several donations connected with BeLeave: Vote Leave donations of £400,000 and £400,000 on 14 June 2016, an Anthony Clake donation of £50,000 on 17 June, a Vote Leave donation of £40,000 on 20 June, and a Vote Leave donation of £185,315.18 on 21 June. These dates and amounts are presented as findings recorded in the Electoral Commission’s Vote Leave investigation report.