If you have an hour or so to spare I recommend you read the legal opinion prepared by Matrix Chambers against Vote Leave (HERE). It's 50 pages and takes a bit of reading but gives some idea of how Vote Leave appeared to get round the spending limit of £7 million by "donating" over £700K to other supposedly independent campaigns.
The Electoral Commission are investigating and it would be surprising if they conclude the campaigns were truly independent as defined under The Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act 2000 (PPERA) which imposes limits on the referendum expenses that individuals and bodies involved in campaigning are allowed to incur in relation to their campaign.
Vote Leave and BeLeave were, for all intent and purposes, it seems to me, a single organisation. They used the same staff, offices, computer hard drive, telephones and so on. Veterans for Britain and the DUP also appear to be involved albeit not quite so closely
Under the European Union Referendum Act 2015, referendum expenses incurred as part of a plan or other arrangement between a designated organisation and another campaign group, as defined in paragraph 22 of Sch 1 (known as common plan expenses), are treated as having been incurred by the designated organisation and must be reported by that organisation. But they were not - because had they done so it would have taken them over the £7 million limit.
It's packed full of evidence and no doubt many at the top of Vote Leave are beginning to get a bit nervous.
