[Cherie]

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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[user104658]

Originally Posted by Cherie

Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2016. All rights reserved. You may share using our article tools. Please don't cut articles from FT.com and redistribute by email or post to the web.

[Cherie]

Originally Posted by Toy Soldier

Jobsworth

[kirklancaster]

It remains to be verified that this is true, and THAT may never happen, but if it is, it does nor surprise me, because identify as I may with some of their policies, I am not naive enough, or fanatical enough to believe that they are 'pristine' and 'allwhite', because NO political Party is, and lot of politicians - of ALL political persuasions - are as straight as a corkscrew.

[jaxie]

If true it's a great way to spend the EU's money! Bye EU!

I wonder how the other MEPs spend their money.

[Alf]

Originally Posted by jaxie

If true it's a great way to spend the EU's money! Bye EU!

I wonder how the other MEPs spend their money.

Prostitutes and cocaine.

[joeysteele]

They won't be the only ones.
Even if this is proven beyond doubt,well that's how it goes I guess.

[Cherie]

[QUOTE=joeysteele;9064130]They won't be the only ones.
Even if this is proven beyond doubt,well that's how it goes I guess.[/QUOTE]

So we just need to suck up taxpayers money being misused because everyone does it. Incredible!

[Cherie]

Originally Posted by jaxie

If true it's a great way to spend the EU's money! Bye EU!

I wonder how the other MEPs spend their money.

Shows their brass neck but also the irony that they would have had no funds to campaign without the EU...if proven of course yadda yadda

[joeysteele]

[QUOTE=Cherie;9064276]

Originally Posted by joeysteele

They won't be the only ones.
Even if this is proven beyond doubt,well that's how it goes I guess.[/QUOTE]

So we just need to suck up taxpayers money being misused because everyone does it. Incredible!

What, where do I say that for goodness sake.
Talk about jumping down someone's throat

There are checks being made into others parties spending in elections too, this has not yet even been proved that UKIP have even misused this public money.

Makes you wonder what we need courts for sometimes, when something just needs to be said and so, they are guilty, full stop.

If they have been found to have done this, they will likely have to pay it back, so no,we don't just suck up to taxpayers money being misused.

I will wait until and more to the point 'if' it is legally confirmed before condemning and as I said before, they will likely have to pay it back anyway, so in the end no money will be lost.

However UKIP will not be the only ones who have possibly 'overspent' on the referendum or in elections, I feel pretty sure about that.

Oh and I have no love at all for UKIP, so I do not speak as a supporter of them.

[Tom4784]

I do love a good UKIP scandal.

[Cherie]

[QUOTE=joeysteele;9064355]

Originally Posted by Cherie

What, where do I say that for goodness sake.
Talk about jumping down someone's

There are checks being made into others parties spending in elections too, this has not yet even been proved that UKIP have even misused this public money.

Makes you wonder what we need courts for sometimes, when something just needs to be said and so, they are guilty, full stop.

If they have been found to have done this, they will likely have to pay it back, so no,we don't just suck up to taxpayers money being misused.

I will wait until and more to the point 'if' it is legally confirmed before condemning and as I said before, they will likely have to pay it back anyway, so in the end no money will be lost.

However UKIP will not be the only ones who have possibly 'overspent' on the referendum or in elections, I feel pretty sure about that.

I hardly jumped down your throat Joey, calm down, I might have misread your point and if so my apologies

[Kizzy]

Nice way to deflect the tories overspend in south thanet. But yeah UKIP are as bent as a £9 note.