You may have noticed reports about the Electoral Commission being accused of getting the law wrong in a way that helped the leave campaign, something they deny, but clearly the EC did give flawed advice to Vote Leave which led to their campaign overspending. We know they got the law wrong because the high court decided so on 14th September (HERE). The case was brought by The Good Law project.
Having got the judgement he sought, Jolyon Maughan of the Good Law Project has now launched an appeal for more funding to get the EC to investigate who donated £435,000 to the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) which was then spent on the leave campaign (HERE). The EC have refused to investigate this in the past. The money came from a secretive organisation called the Constitutional Research Council (CRC). We know this because the DUP confirmed that it had received a very large donation from the CRC, chaired by a Mr Richard Cook, a former vice chairman of the Scottish Conservatives.
But last week's judgement changes the picture about which donations need to be declared and it appears that £282,000 was spent on advertising in The Metro in London and this was arranged directly by the CRC. In which case they should have declared the donation, but didn't. By not registering and not submitting a return it is alleged they broke the law.
The Electoral Commission have until next Thursday to take action otherwise Jo Maughan will apply to have the courts order them to do so.
I always chip in to these things on the grounds that any grit in the Brexit wheel is a good thing.
