Vote Leave
Vote Leave was[1] a campaigning organisation that supported a "Leave" vote in the 2016 United Kingdom European Union membership referendum.[2] On 13 April 2016 it was designated by the Electoral Commission as the official campaign in favour of leaving the European Union in the Referendum.[3]
Successor
8 October 2015
Westminster Tower
- United Kingdom
United Kingdom
Business for Britain,
Conservatives for Britain,
Labour Leave,
BeLeave,
Students for Britain
51–200
Vote Leave was founded in October 2015 by political strategists Matthew Elliott and Dominic Cummings as a cross-party campaign. It involved Members of Parliament from the Conservative Party, Labour Party and the sole UKIP MP, Douglas Carswell along with MEP Daniel Hannan and Conservative peer Lord Lawson. Labour MP Gisela Stuart served as chairman and Leader of the Vote Leave Campaign Committee as Co-Convenor with Michael Gove MP, of the Conservatives.[4] The campaign was also supported by a number of prominent politicians; including outgoing Mayor of London Boris Johnson, who became a key figurehead for the Vote Leave campaign. A number of Vote Leave principals, including Douglas Carswell, Michael Gove, Bernard Jenkin and Anne-Marie Trevelyan, were also members of the influential IPSA resourced European Research Group.
Vote Leave co-operated with Labour Leave, Conservatives for Britain and Business for Britain throughout the referendum campaign.[5]
At the referendum held on Thursday 23 June 2016, the majority of those who voted, voted for the United Kingdom to leave the European Union, which was equivalent to a 51.9% share of the vote (a 3.8% margin); which set into motion the steps to be taken for British withdrawal from the European Union. In September 2016, Change Britain was formed to act as a successor organisation.
On 23 June and over the following days, both Vote Leave and its rival organisation, "Britain Stronger in Europe", were excoriated by sections of the media and academia for a campaign described by the Electoral Reform Society as "dire", which left the public seriously lacking proper information. On 17 July 2018, Vote Leave was fined £61,000 and referred to police for breaking electoral spending laws.[6][7]
On 13 March 2016 Vote Leave announced the Vote Leave Campaign Committee, the public facing governing body that meets weekly to set the campaign strategy for Vote Leave.[31] This coincided with the announcement of Labour MP Gisela Stuart as the new chairman of Vote Leave (replacing Lord Lawson) along with Gisela Stuart and Michael Gove as Co-Conveners of the Committee.[32] The Vote Leave Campaign Committee was
The Vote Leave board was legally responsible for the campaign.[31]
Members of Parliament supporting the organisation include UKIP MP Douglas Carswell, Labour MP Kelvin Hopkins, Conservative MPs Steve Baker, Bernard Jenkin and Owen Paterson, and former Ulster Unionist Party leader Lord Trimble.
Criticism[edit]
Strategy[edit]
During 2015, the group established a fake company[54] to gain entry to a speech being given by Prime Minister David Cameron at the Confederation of British Industry where they heckled him and held banners stating "CBI = voice of Brussels". Cummings subsequently stated: "You think it is nasty? You ain’t seen nothing yet. These guys have failed the country, they are going to be under the magnifying glass. Tough shit ... It is going to be tough".[55] The campaign also stated their intention to target and disrupt meetings of pro-EU organisations and companies.[56] In a letter to the Electoral Commission, Sir Eric Pickles, the former Conservative cabinet minister, said he believed Vote Leave had disqualified itself from lead status in the referendum (which entitles the campaign to public funding) after it pledged to run a "nasty" campaign against opponents.[55]
Criticism emerged in 2018 of their relationship with their 'Outreach Groups' such as BeLeave[57] as claims emerged that they were puppet organisations through which Vote Leave channelled money[58] to circumvent spending restrictions.[59] George Eaton wrote, “[The] allegations bear the imprimatur of three senior barristers (Clare Montgomery QC, Helen Mountfield QC and Ben Silverstone of Matrix Chambers) who concluded that Vote Leave may have 'spent huge sums unlawfully', that there are 'grounds to suspect' that campaign director and former Michael Gove aide Dominic Cummings “conspired to break the law” and that Stephen Parkinson and fellow No. 10 aide Cleo Watson may have 'conspired with others to commit offences'”.[60]
BeLeave was based inside the Vote Leave headquarters.[61] On 14 September 2018, the High Court of Justice found against the Electoral Commission, stating that its advice to Vote Leave and Darren Grimes had been incorrect, but confirming that the overspending had been illegal. Vote Leave, which claimed they would not have paid BeLeave without the advice, initially appealed against their fine, but withdrew the appeal in March 2019.
Post referendum campaign[edit]
Noting the absence of post-victory celebrations, Nick Cohen wrote in a Guardian newspaper article that it reflected the fear of the two main leaders Johnson and Gove, both journalists, that they would be “found out.” He said that the Leave camp had no plan and provided a single simplistic answer to EU problems condemning the UK Statistics Authority as “stooges” and other experts as “corrupt liars in Brussels' pocket.” The campaign - a cross-party alliance of left and right-wing campaigners - had made promises on immigration and the National Health Service on which some politicians were backtracking.[62]
Michael Dougan, Professor of European Law and Jean Monnet Chair in EU Law at the University of Liverpool, described the Vote Leave and other Leave campaigns as "one of the most dishonest political campaigns this country [the UK] has ever seen".[63]
In August 2016, the Electoral Reform Society published a highly critical report and called for a review of how such future events are run. Contrasting it unfavourably with the "well-informed grassroots" campaign for Scottish independence, Chief Executive Katie Ghose described it as "dire" with “glaring democratic deficiencies” which left voters bewildered. She noted a generally negative response to establishment figures with 29% of voters saying David Cameron made them more likely to vote Leave whilst only 14% said he made them want to vote Remain. Looking ahead, the society called for an official organisation to highlight misleading claims and for Ofcom to define the role broadcasters are expected to play.[64]
Electoral law violations[edit]
In November 2017, the Electoral Commission announced that it was reopening its investigation of Vote Leave's EU referendum spending.[65] On 17 July 2018, it was announced that Vote Leave had been found guilty of breaking electoral law by overspending[66] following testimony from three whistleblowers. Vote Leave was fined £61,000 and referred to the police.[67] In October 2018, an article appeared on the political website openDemocracy claiming that the criminal investigations into Vote Leave and Leave.EU had not progressed, with a spokesman for a Scotland Yard admitting that "there were issues and “political sensitivities” that had to be taken into account.[68]
On 14 September 2018, the High Court ruled that the advice given by the Electoral Commission to Vote Leave as requested misinterpreted EU referendum spending laws. An Electoral Commission spokesperson said it welcomed the court's "consideration of this aspect of electoral law" and said it had reached the same conclusion as a subsequent commission investigation, which resulted in fines being issued to Vote Leave and Darren Grimes.[69][70][71] Vote Leave appealed against the fine, maintaining that the donation to Grimes had been appropriately signed off by the Electoral Commission, but on 29 March 2019 they announced that the appeal had been dropped, citing a lack of financial resources as the reason.[72] However, in July 2019, Grimes, having crowdfunded £90,000 for legal costs, won an appeal against the Electoral Commission.[73]