Anti-Brexit campaigners FINED thousands of pounds for breaching spending rules
LEADING anti-Brexit campaigners in last year's referendum have been fined thousands of pounds for breaching spending rules, it was announced yesterday.
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The elections watchdog slapped a £17,000 penalty on the Lib Dems for providing no, or inadequate, invoices and receipts for 80 payments worth a total of more than £80,000.
A further fine of £1,000 was issued by the Electoral Commission for presenting some payments as a total instead of reporting them as individual sums.
The total is near the maximum penalty of £20,000 – which the Lib Dems were fined a year ago for failing to declare more than 300 items of spending during the 2015 general election.
Electoral Commission Legal Counsel and Director of Political Finance and Regulation Bob Posner said: "The reporting requirements for parties and campaigners at referendums and elections are clear.
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The mistakes that have occurred in this case are a result of human error
"That's why it is disappointing that the Liberal Democrats didn't follow them correctly.
"The major political parties must ensure their internal governance is sufficiently invested in and resourced so they can be sure of meeting their legal obligations.
"Where the rules are not followed, transparency is lost which is not in the public interest or as Parliament intended."
A Lib Dem spokesman said: "We always endeavour to provide complete reports of national campaign expenses in good time and according to all of the applicable rules.
"The mistakes that have occurred in this case are a result of human error, and we are taking the necessary steps to ensure these mistakes are not repeated in future."
The Electoral Commission also announced fines of £1,250 against the official referendum campaign to remain in the European Union.
Britain Stronger in Europe, which has since become Open Britain campaigning to keep close links with the EU, has paid £1,000 for reporting some payments in total rather than separately, plus £250 in relation to three missing invoices.
Further fines were announced for less high profile groups in relation to late reporting of donation and accounts.
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The Commission's report follows news it has reopened its probe into whether the official Brexit campaign Vote Leave broke referendum spending limits.
There are questions over its giving £625,000 to a fashion student who then handed it days before the referendum to a Canadian data analysis firm which specialises in targeted online advertising.
Pro-Brexit campaign group Veterans for Britain will also be grilled about taking Vote Leave money and giving it to the data firm, AggregateIQ.
Legal limits designed to promote fairness are applied to spending by parties and groups during campaigns. They must fully account to the Electoral Commission for all their spending to be checked.
