Dame Angela Eagle MP Standing up for Wallasey
During an Urgent Question in the House of Commons, I asked the hapless Cabinet Office Minister, Chloe Smith, what it would take for the Government to stop defending the indefensible and actually take the issue of electoral law breeches seriously. It doesn’t matter whether someone voted leave or remain, it is crucial that our democratic processes are carried out legally and transparently.
Today, after a lengthy investigation, the Electoral Commission found Vote Leave, the official designated campaign for Britain leaving the EU during the referendum that was fronted by Tory MPs Boris Johnson and Michael Gove, was found to have illegally exceeded the campaign spending limit of £7m by almost £500,000.
Vote Leave has been fined a paltry £61,000 and reported to the police by the Electoral Commission, after the watchdog found evidence of coordination with another campaign group, BeLeave. Darren Grimes, the founder of BeLeave was fined £20,000 and reported to the police, and the Vote Leave official David Halsall has also been reported to the police. You can read the report here: https://www.electoralcommission.org.uk/…/vote-leave-fined-a….
The findings of the Electoral Commission also raises the question about whether other key figures within the campaign, such as Michael Gove and Boris Johnson had any knowledge of spending irregularities. Clearly our electoral law is out of date and needs urgent attention, but the Minister in charge was complacent and seemingly uninterested.
This follows on from last year when a separate Brexit campaign, Leave.EU, was fined £70,000 in March for failing to declare at least £77,380 it spent on the referendum.
Despite the fact that it is clear that the behaviour of Vote Leave is an affront to our democracy and that given that there was just a 4% gap between leave and remain in the referendum and that we cannot rule out the possibility that the illegal actions of the official leave campaign did not impact on the result, the Minister persisted in saying that the Government would take no action.
At a time when there is already fragile public trust in politics, this only serves to undermine it further. It is clear that the law governing elections is not fit for purpose, with some provisions dating back to the nineteenth century. If the Government is serious about supporting democracy, they need to urgently act to strengthen and update the law around this area. it is so vital that action is taken to strengthen and protect our democracy for the future.
Watch the video below for more ↓
During an Urgent Question in the House of Commons, I asked the hapless Cabinet Office Minister, Chloe Smith, what it would take for the Government to stop defending the indefensible and actually take the issue of electoral law breeches seriously. It doesn’t matter whether someone voted leave or remain, it is crucial that our democratic processes are carried out legally and transparently. Today, after a lengthy investigation, the Electoral Commission found Vote Leave, the official designated campaign for Britain leaving the EU during the referendum that was fronted by Tory MPs Boris Johnson and Michael Gove, was found to have illegally exceeded the campaign spending limit of £7m by almost £500,000. Vote Leave has been fined a paltry £61,000 and reported to the police by the Electoral Commission, after the watchdog found evidence of coordination with another campaign group, BeLeave. Darren Grimes, the founder of BeLeave was fined £20,000 and reported to the police, and the Vote Leave official David Halsall has also been reported to the police. You can read the report here: https://www.electoralcommission.org.uk/i-am-a/journalist/electoral-commission-media-centre/news-releases-donations/vote-leave-fined-and-referred-to-the-police-for-breaking-electoral-law.The findings of the Electoral Commission also raises the question about whether other key figures within the campaign, such as Michael Gove and Boris Johnson had any knowledge of spending irregularities. Clearly our electoral law is out of date and needs urgent attention, but the Minister in charge was complacent and seemingly uninterested. This follows on from last year when a separate Brexit campaign, Leave.EU, was fined £70,000 in March for failing to declare at least £77,380 it spent on the referendum. Despite the fact that it is clear that the behaviour of Vote Leave is an affront to our democracy and that given that there was just a 4% gap between leave and remain in the referendum and that we cannot rule out the possibility that the illegal actions of the official leave campaign did not impact on the result, the Minister persisted in saying that the Government would take no action.At a time when there is already fragile public trust in politics, this only serves to undermine it further. It is clear that the law governing elections is not fit for purpose, with some provisions dating back to the nineteenth century. If the Government is serious about supporting democracy, they need to urgently act to strengthen and update the law around this area. it is so vital that action is taken to strengthen and protect our democracy for the future.Watch the video below for more ↓
Posted by Angela Eagle on Tuesday, July 17, 2018