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Scarlett. · 07-11-2016, 04:02 PM

Quote:

The director of public prosecutions is considering a complaint that voters were misled by the Vote Leave and Leave.EU campaigns, in contravention of electoral law.

The complaint about “undue influence” on the referendum campaign has been submitted by an independent group, spearheaded by Prof Bob Watt, an expert in electoral law from the University of Buckingham.

Though most cases require a police complaint before evidence can be considered by the Crown Prosecution Service, under the 1983 Representation of the People Act the DPP can consider cases of election offences when they are referred to her office directly.

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.

Under electoral law “undue influence” is considered a corrupt practice and includes the use of “a fraudulent device or contrivance” to “impede or prevent or intend to impede or prevent the free exercise of the franchise”.

The evidence submitted to the DPP cites a 1992 case where members of the Liberal Democrats produced a leaflet headed “Labour News”, with quotes from Labour politicians and purporting to set out Labour policies in Tower Hamlets.

That leaflet was deemed by the courts to be an attempt to mislead voters, though the law at the time did not consider that to be an offence. However, the law was changed by the Electoral Administration Act of 2006, which made an attempt to mislead voters an offence of “undue influence” – although Watt said that had not been tested by the courts so far.

Watt and his colleagues who have prepared the case say it centres on “instances where the leave campaigns continued to make assertions of fact that were knowingly misleading”, including the oft-cited claim of the EU costing the UK £350m a week.

That claim, made by Vote Leave, was contrary to evidence from the Office for National Statistics, Watt said. Other instances cited to the DPP include alleged misrepresentations on pro-Brexit leaflets that Nissan and Unilever supported leaving the EU.

Watt also cited Vote Leave’s posters that claimed “Turkey is joining the EU”, as well as the assertion that “the UK has no border controls whilst in the EU” when billions are spent on the UK Border Agency.

Some other cases had been excluded, Watt said, including George Osborne’s so-called “punishment budget” in support of remain, 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,” Watt said. “Our primary aim in seeking prosecution is to try to restore some integrity to our democratic processes.

“None of us is willing to allow the UK to be dragged down to some kind of populist ‘who can lie and deceive the most?’ race to the bottom, such as we witnessed earlier this year.”

If a case was brought successfully, it would not have any bearing on the referendum result or prevent the UK leaving the EU, but could result in criminal punishment of anyone held responsible by the courts for making false statements.

Watt said the laws that “protect against corrupt campaigning practices” needed to be imposed. “Ultimately it will be for parliament to decide, based on the court’s judgment on evidence that there was undue influence, if that has bearing on whether the EU referendum result should be considered as democratically safe,” he said.

Although Vote Leave is no longer functioning , the Guardian has contacted Change Britain, its successor organisation, which campaigns to leave the single market, as well as its former chief executive, Matthew Elliott, at his new website Brexit Central asking for comment. Leave.EU has also been contacted.

The Lib Dem MP Tom Brake, patron of Vote Leave Watch, 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.”

The Guardian

user104658 · 07-11-2016, 04:29 PM

When are they going to arrest someone for the outright lies told during the Scottish Indy ref?

There was an actual document of promises drawn up at the last minute to sway the vote, signed by all of the major leaders, and those promises came to nothing. Conveniently there has now been another GE, Brexit, and a complete change of the guard in Westminster so all of those promises can be forgotten. Everyone who signed it (Cameron, Osbourne, Milliband et al) have run for the hills never to be seen again.

Scarlett. · 07-11-2016, 04:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Toy Soldier

When are they going to arrest someone for the outright lies told during the Scottish Indy ref?

There was an actual document of promises drawn up at the last minute to sway the vote, signed by all of the major leaders, and those promises came to nothing. Conveniently there has now been another GE, Brexit, and a complete change of the guard in Westminster so all of those promises can be forgotten. Everyone who signed it (Cameron, Osbourne, Milliband et al) have run for the hills never to be seen again.

Agreed, they made all those promises about Scotland remaining in the UK, and then nothing. Cameron really was a slimy bastard.

Vicky. · 07-11-2016, 04:45 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Toy Soldier

When are they going to arrest someone for the outright lies told during the Scottish Indy ref?

There was an actual document of promises drawn up at the last minute to sway the vote, signed by all of the major leaders, and those promises came to nothing. Conveniently there has now been another GE, Brexit, and a complete change of the guard in Westminster so all of those promises can be forgotten. Everyone who signed it (Cameron, Osbourne, Milliband et al) have run for the hills never to be seen again.

Yup this is just as bad.

What would happen here? Would Boris and all who spouted the lies actually be prosecuted?

Its a ****ing joke really. Whats wrong with giving people the truth and letting them decide, especially over huge matters that will have massive feects on peoples lives. I am including the scaremongering of the stay campaign here also. Both sides in brexit were economic with the truth, but leave do appear to have told more lies.

kirklancaster · 07-11-2016, 06:05 PM

Lies WERE told on both sides, but THE biggest liar of the lot was David Cameron.

Kizzy · 08-11-2016, 06:34 AM

I hope they are all held accountable, it is an offence to mislead the public as they did. With any luck they won't grease out of it.... Mind you they will no doubt, teflon tories :/

Crimson Dynamo · 08-11-2016, 07:53 AM

The constant lies told to Scots was far worse and every news paper bar The Herald was at it as well

gie us peace

James · 08-11-2016, 09:56 AM

That was the law that the SNP tried to use to get rid of the only Liberal Democrat MP in Scotland. The case was thrown out.

Livia · 08-11-2016, 10:24 AM

Both sides tried to mislead voters.

Welcome to political campaigning.........

Crimson Dynamo · 08-11-2016, 10:37 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kirklancaster

Lies WERE told on both sides, but THE biggest liar of the lot was David Cameron.

he was, useless get

jaxie · 08-11-2016, 11:00 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Livia

Both sides tried to mislead voters.

Welcome to political campaigning.........

Yes this. I don't think I've ever seen a general election where the lies haven't been free flowing. People aren't stupid sheep though, they can find information for themselves and read so it isn't like we were all misled in the way we voted.