Brexit campaigner Darren Grimes wins appeal against £20,000 Electoral Commission fine
2 min read
Brexit campaigner Darren Grimes has won his appeal against a £20,000 fine handed down by the Electoral Commission.
Mr Grimes was hit with the five-figure fine in 2018 after the elections watchdog said it had found "significant evidence" that the official Vote Leave Brexit campaign had failed to properly declare its links with his youth-focused BeLeave group.
But Mr Grimes appealed against the fine at the Mayor's and City of London Court, accusing the watchdog of "errors of fact, the law and unreasonableness".
In a statement, Mr Grimes said he was "delighted and relieved that the Court has found me innocent".
He added: "This case has taken a huge toll on myself and my family, and I'm thankful it's now over. I will be eternally grateful to all those people who have supported me - your generosity and kind words of encouragement have kept me going.
"The Electoral Commission's case was based on an incorrectly ticked box on an application form - something that it had been aware of for over two years and had not been raised in two previous investigations.
"Yet the Commission still saw fit to issue an excessive fine and to spend almost half a million in taxpayer cash pursuing me through the courts. This raises serious questions about its conduct both during and after the referendum."
The case against Mr Grimes had focused on a £680,000 donation from Vote Leave to BeLeave in the final weeks of the EU referendum.
The Commission found that this had been used under a "common plan" between the two groups to spend money on digital ads from Canadian firm Aggregate IQ - a move that meant Vote Leave broke the £7million legal spending cap imposed on campaigns.
Under electoral law, groups are allowed to transfer money but cannot direct each other on how to spend it.
In statement following the verdict, the watchdog said: “We are disappointed that the court has upheld Mr Grimes’ appeal.
“We will now review the full detail of the judgement before deciding on next steps, including any appeal.”
PoliticsHome Newsletters
PoliticsHome provides the most comprehensive coverage of UK politics anywhere on the web, offering high quality original reporting and analysis: Subscribe
