Leave.EU was registered as a referendum campaigner on 15 February 2016. Its Electoral Commission case concerned spending, loans, invoices and the accuracy of its financial returns for the 23 June 2016 EU referendum. The Commission initially imposed £70,000 in fines; after an appeal, the total was reduced to £66,000.
Contents
- Campaign timeline
- Spending limits and reported expenditure
- Loans and transaction reporting
- Unreported campaign costs
- Invoices, payments and apportioned spending
- Cambridge Analytica and the investigation
- Offences, penalties and appeal
Campaign timeline
The following dates place the financial records in the referendum timetable. The referendum took place on 23 June 2016, while the regulated period for the spending examined by the Commission began on 15 April 2016.
| Date | Event | Source |
|---|---|---|
| 15 February 2016 | Leave.EU Group Ltd registered as a campaigner | Electoral Commission report on Leave.EU |
| 13 April 2016 | Vote Leave Limited designated lead campaigner for the leave outcome | Electoral Commission report on Leave.EU |
| 15 April 2016 | Regulated period began | Electoral Commission report on Leave.EU |
| 23 June 2016 | EU referendum held | Electoral Commission report on Leave.EU |
| 23 December 2016 | Deadline for Leave.EU’s spending return | Electoral Commission report on Leave.EU |
| April 2017 | Electoral Commission investigation opened | Electoral Commission report on Leave.EU |
| 21 March 2019 | County Court liability judgment | Electoral Commission appeal update |
| 8 April 2019 | County Court penalties judgment | Electoral Commission appeal update |
Leave.EU was listed as an affiliate in Go Movement Limited’s application for lead-campaigner designation. The Commission designated Vote Leave Limited as the lead campaigner for the leave outcome on 13 April 2016. The statutory spending limit for a lead campaigner was £7 million, whereas Leave.EU’s own stated limit was £700,000.
The responsible person named in the Leave.EU records was Ms Elizabeth Bilney. Because Leave.EU spent more than £250,000, it had to deliver its spending return by 23 December 2016. The later investigation expanded as further evidence came to light.
Spending limits and reported expenditure
Leave.EU reported referendum spending of £693,094 against its stated spending limit of £700,000. On the reported figure alone, that left £6,906 below the limit. The Commission later found that the return omitted at least £77,380 in expenditure. That minimum omission meant the campaign exceeded its own spending limit by more than 10%.
| Measure | Amount or finding | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Lead-campaigner spending limit | £7,000,000 | Electoral Commission report on Leave.EU |
| Leave.EU stated spending limit | £700,000 | Electoral Commission report on Leave.EU |
| Spending reported by Leave.EU | £693,094 | Electoral Commission report on Leave.EU |
| Difference below stated limit on reported figure | £6,906 | Electoral Commission report on Leave.EU |
| Minimum expenditure omitted from return | £77,380 | Electoral Commission report on Leave.EU |
| Payments lacking required invoices or receipts | 97 | Electoral Commission report on Leave.EU |
| Value of those payments | £80,224 | Electoral Commission report on Leave.EU |
The £77,380 figure is a minimum established by the Commission, not a complete measure of the possible overspend. The Commission concluded that the actual overspend was greater than the minimum it could prove because services from Goddard Gunster had not been fully reported. It could not quantify the exact proportion of that work that should have been declared.
The Commission found that Leave.EU authorised the expenses incurred by or on behalf of the campaign. It also found that Ms Bilney knew, or ought reasonably to have known, that the expenses would exceed the limit. These findings relate to the Commission’s investigation of the referendum return and should be read alongside the later court appeal outcome.
Loans and transaction reporting
On 28 April 2016, Leave.EU reported receiving three regulated transactions from Arron Banks. Together, the transactions totalled £6 million. At that point, they were the only reported funding sources for Leave.EU’s referendum campaign.
The Commission said Leave.EU incorrectly reported several details of those transactions. The incorrect details included the dates on which the transactions were entered into, their repayment date, their interest rate and their provider. Leave.EU also reported the transactions incorrectly in its referendum spending return.
The two records did not contain the same errors. In the spending return, the repayment date and interest rates were correct, but the date on which the transactions were entered into was not correct and the provider was not correct. Variations to the transactions were also not correctly reported.
The investigation therefore examined both the size of the funding and the quality of the information supplied about it. The £6 million total describes the three regulated transactions examined by the Commission; it should not be treated as a separate spending total or as a quantified finding that the entire amount was spent.
Unreported campaign costs
One of the specific spending findings concerned Better for the Country Limited, identified in the return as campaign organiser. Leave.EU failed to include £77,380 paid to that organisation in its spending return. This amount formed the quantified minimum at the centre of the Commission’s overspending finding.
The Commission also examined services from Goddard Gunster. Those services were paid for before the regulated period started on 15 April 2016, but Leave.EU made use of them during the regulated period. The Commission said they should have been reported in the spending return. However, it could not quantify the exact proportion of Goddard Gunster spending that should have been declared.
That distinction matters when reading the figures. £77,380 is a quantified omission tied to Better for the Country Limited. The Goddard Gunster finding established that additional reporting was required, but the supplied Commission findings do not provide an exact amount for the portion that should have been declared. The eventual overspend was therefore greater than the minimum the Commission could prove, without a precise total being stated here.
Invoices, payments and apportioned spending
The investigation examined whether Leave.EU’s referendum spending return was complete and whether it contained the supporting documents required for payments over £200. Leave.EU failed to provide the required invoice or receipt for 97 payments over £200. Those 97 payments had a combined value of £80,224.
The missing-document finding is distinct from the £77,380 omitted payment to Better for the Country Limited. One figure concerns an expenditure item that was not included in the return; the other concerns 97 payments for which the required invoice or receipt was not provided. The records do not support adding the two amounts together as a new spending total.
The Commission also determined that it was more probable than not that Leave.EU’s spending return understated the apportioned value of 15 payments. Those 15 payments had a total value of £129,720. At the same time, the Commission could not determine beyond reasonable doubt whether the reported value of those 15 payments was right or wrong.
These findings use different evidential standards and answer different questions. The £129,720 is the total value of the 15 payments examined, while the Commission’s statement about their apportioned value describes a probability finding rather than a quantified amount that it confirmed as incorrectly reported. No unsupported correction to that £129,720 total can be inferred from the record.
Cambridge Analytica and the investigation
The Commission found that Leave.EU did not receive donations or paid-for services from Cambridge Analytica that should have been reported in its spending return. It said the relationship did not develop beyond initial scoping work, and no contract was agreed between Leave.EU and Cambridge Analytica.
This finding separates initial discussions from reportable campaign expenditure. The Commission’s conclusion was not that every contact or piece of scoping work represented a reportable donation or paid-for service. Rather, on the facts recorded in its report, it found no such Cambridge Analytica funding or service to include in the return.
The investigation itself opened in April 2017 and examined loans totalling £6 million, the completeness of the referendum spending return, and supporting invoices and receipts for payments over £200. Its scope expanded as further evidence came to light. The responsible-person findings included concerns about whether Ms Bilney knowingly or recklessly signed a false declaration with the spending return.
The Commission had reasonable grounds to suspect that the responsible person knowingly or recklessly signed such a false declaration. It referred that matter to the Metropolitan Police Service. The referral is a recorded action by the Commission; the supplied findings do not state a further quantified outcome for that referral.
Offences, penalties and appeal
The Commission determined that Ms Bilney committed an offence under Schedule 2 paragraph 5(9)(b) of EURA. It also determined that she committed an offence under section 122(4)(b) of PPERA for failing to deliver a complete and accurate spending return, and a further section 122(4)(b) PPERA offence for failing to deliver a complete spending return with all required invoices or receipts over £200.
The Commission determined that Ms Bilney committed an offence under section 118(2)(c)(i) of PPERA for exceeding the statutory limit. Leave.EU itself committed an offence under section 118(2)(c)(ii) of PPERA in respect of the same overspending.
The Commission initially fined Leave.EU £70,000 in total. Leave.EU appealed the sanctions. The County Court gave its liability judgment on 21 March 2019 and its penalties judgment on 8 April 2019. The appeal court upheld three penalties totalling £50,000, while one penalty was reduced from £20,000 to £16,000.
| Appeal-stage measure | Result | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Penalties upheld | 3 | Electoral Commission appeal update |
| Total for upheld penalties | £50,000 | Electoral Commission appeal update |
| One reduced penalty before appeal | £20,000 | Electoral Commission appeal update |
| Same penalty after reduction | £16,000 | Electoral Commission appeal update |
| Final total fine after appeal | £66,000 | Electoral Commission appeal update |
The final total fine was therefore reduced from £70,000 to £66,000. Leave.EU later paid those fines. The Electoral Commission appeal update also records that an enforcement decision can be appealed within 28 days, which sets the stated time limit for challenging such a decision.