Police probe pro-Brexit groups’ spending during referendum

A criminal investigation into spending by pro-Brexit groups during the referendum campaign is live and ongoing, police said yesterday.

Aaron Banks, his Leave.EU campaign and senior campaign figure Liz Bilney were referred to the National Crime Agency by the Electoral Commission in November last year.

The Electoral Commission investigation focused on £2 million reported to have been loaned to Better for the Country, which ran Leave.EU.

The commission suspects Banks was not the “true source” of loans to the campaign. He and Ms Bilney have denied any wrongdoing.

Meanwhile, a donation of £435,000 from the Constitutional Research Council (CRC) – chaired by former Scottish Tory vice chair Richard Cook – to the DUP’s Leave campaign was not investigated by the Electoral Commission, but the commission did fine the CRC for failing to report the donation. Mr Cook denies wrongdoing.

Labour Leave was fined £9,000 by the Electoral Commission last week for failing to report two donations of £10,000 each. Vote Leave was fined £40,000 by the Information Commissioner’s Office last week for sending almost 200,000 unsolicited text messages.