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Ukip ‘misspent’ EU funding on Brexit campaign
EU parliament report says the party used €450,000 on electioneering
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2 HOURS AGO by: Henry Mance and Duncan Robinson
The UK Independence party misspent €450,000 of EU funding on electioneering, an audit by the European Parliament has reportedly concluded.

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The ruling could have significant ramifications for Ukip, whose financial position has worsened over the past year and which could now be asked to repay some funds. It is also embarrassing for Nigel Farage, the Eurosceptics’ interim leader, who has previously compared Brussels’ misspending with “a banana republic”.

The audit, reported by Sky News, found that the Alliance for Direct Democracy in Europe — composed of parliamentary parties which includes Ukip and Germany’s rightwing populists AfD — misspent €500,000 of EU funding on the “indirect financing of a national political party” and “a referendum campaign”.

Ukip was responsible for most of the misspending, spending some funds intended for parliamentary business to carry out opinion polls in key target seats ahead of the 2015 general election.

Sky News said that the European Parliament bureau would decide on Monday whether to order Ukip to pay back more than €170,000, and preventing the party from claiming hundreds of thousands more.

The ADDE accused the parliamentary administration of taking “an aggressive and hostile attitude over the audit, amounting to nothing short of deliberate harassment.” It said it would take “this matter to the European Court of Justice”.

The incident is the second quarrel between Ukip and the European Parliament in recent weeks. In October the parliament’s president Martin Schulz referred an altercation between two Ukip MEPs — Steven Woolfe and Mike Hookem — to the police. Mr Woolfe has subsequently left the party, suggesting that, despite winning nearly 4m votes last year, it is now in a “death spiral”.

Ukip ran a deficit of £851,000 last year, meaning that its general fund had a negative balance of more than £500,000. It moved headquarters last month, its membership has fallen and one of its biggest donors, Arron Banks, has threatened to walk away from the party. However, Ukip has denied reports that it is close to bankruptcy and other donors, including Patrick Barbour, have given significant sums in recent months.

Mr Farage announced his decision to step down as Ukip leader in July, but remains co-leader of the ADDE, giving him control over a large portion of the party’s funding.

Ukip said the alleged misspending was a matter for the ADDE.

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