The Brexit campaign has been fined and referred to the police for breaking electoral law

Getty

• The Official Brexit campaign has been found to have committed "serious breaches" of electoral law.
• Vote Leave overspent by almost half a million pound due to funneling money to a connected campaign group.
• The Electoral Commission fine the two groups over £80,000 and refer Vote Leave and Beleave camapigner Darren Grimes to the Metropolitan Police.
• The Commssion say the campaigns refused to co-operate with their investigations.

LONDON - The official Brexit campaign has been referred to the Metropolitan Police after being found to have committed "serious breaches" of electoral law.

The Electoral Commission found that Vote Leave, fronted by the current Education Secretary Michael Gove and the former Foreign Secretary, Boris Johnson, broke strict spending limits during the EU referendum.

The Commission's investigation "found significant evidence of joint working between the lead campaigner, Vote Leave and another campaign group BeLeave," a spokesperson for the commission said.

They found that BeLeave exceeded the legal spending limit of £7 million by almost £500,000 by funneling money to the BeLeave campaign.

BeLeave "spent more than £675,000 with Aggregate IQ under a common plan with Vote Leave," the commission found.

The commission have fined Vote Leave £61,000 and the BeLeave campaign £20,000.

In a statement the commission said the group would now be referred to the Metropolitan Police.

"The Electoral Commission has followed the evidence and conducted a thorough investigation into spending and campaigning carried out by Vote Leave and BeLeave," Bob Posner, Electoral Commission Director of Political Finance and Regulation & Legal Counsel, said.

"We found substantial evidence that the two groups worked to a common plan, did not declare their joint working and did not adhere to the legal spending limits. These are serious breaches of the laws put in place by Parliament to ensure fairness and transparency at elections and referendums. Our findings relate primarily to the organisation which put itself forward as fit to be the designated campaigner for the 'leave' outcome.

"Vote Leave has resisted our investigation from the start, including contesting our right as the statutory regulator to open the investigation. It has refused to cooperate, refused our requests to put forward a representative for interview, and forced us to use our legal powers to compel it to provide evidence. Nevertheless, the evidence we have found is clear and substantial, and can now be seen in our report."

The investigation also found that the campaign group Veterans for Britain inaccurately reported a donation it received from Vote Leave. It has been fined £250. There was no evidence that Veterans for Britain campaigned under a common plan with Vote Leave.

This is a developing story...

Our Brexit Insider Facebook group is the best place for up-to-date news and analysis about Britain's departure from the EU, direct from Business Insider's political reporters. Join here.