Crown Prosecution Service to investigate Leave campaign's £350m claims

Vote to leave flag - Image credit: European Parliament audiovisual

The Crown Prosecution Service is to consider a complaint that campaigners for a Leave vote in the EU referendum misled voters.

Director of Public Prosecutions Alison Saunders is to investigate whether the assertions made by both the official campaign, Vote Leave, and Leave.EU led to "undue influence", and ultimately violated electoral law.

The complaint accuses campaigners of "instances where the leave campaigns continued to make assertions of fact that were knowingly misleading", namely the claim that an extra £350m would be spent on the NHS, following the withdrawal of contributions to Brussels.

The two other key claims being challenged are that Turkey would join the EU and that the UK has no border controls while in the EU.

The complaint has been submitted by an independent group led by Professor Bob Watt, an expert in electoral law from the University of Buckingham, who said the claims amount to “undue influence”.

"Our primary aim in seeking prosecution is to try to restore some integrity to our democratic processes," he told The Guardian.

Mr Watt has not highlighted George Osborne’s so-called “punishment budget”, which warned of increased austerity in light of a leave vote, because it was “an expression of opinion” rather than a matter of fact.

“Whilst that may be considered by some as deplorable, only claims which amount to assertion of fact are likely to meet the test for undue influence,” he said.

Lib Dem MP Tom Brake, and patron of Vote Leave Watch has backed action against the Leave campaigns.

He said: “It looks like the leaders of the Vote Leave campaign will be needing to spend some of that £350m on lawyers’ fees rather than our NHS.

“Vote Leave went beyond the normal bounds of political campaigning, telling blatant untruths about our contribution to the EU budget, Turkey joining the European Union, and much more. It’s about time they were held to account for misleading the British people.”

A CPS spokesperson said: “We can confirm that this letter has been received and we are currently considering its content.”

The complaint is being considered by the special crime team, which deals with all election offences.