EU parliament funds backed Farage Brexit campaign activities, FT documents show

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EU funds Farage Brexit campaign

Highlights

Financial Times documents reveal Farage’s former EU parliament group used EU funds for Say No to EU campaign activities, including venue hire, banners, and livestreams featuring Ukip branding.
Legal experts note the Europe of Freedom and Direct Democracy group is not a permissible donor under UK law, raising possible Electoral Commission investigation into £10,000+ spending within the 2016 Brexit referendum period.
EU parliamentary rules prohibit using group funds for electoral campaigns, with about €42,000 in spending now under scrutiny and calls for stricter oversight from Transparency International and MEPs.

Funding records and legal questions

As reported by the Financial Times, accounts from Farage’s former European parliament group, Europe of Freedom and Direct Democracy, show EU money paid for campaign costs including venue hire, banners and livestream production for the Say No to EU tour. The documents also list dozens of campaign meetings, anti-immigration posters and leaflets tied to anti-EU messaging, with many materials carrying the Ukip logo and events featuring senior party figures.

Lawyers and campaign experts say the funding trail raises questions under UK election law because political donations must come from permissible sources. Gavin Millar KC, a barrister at Matrix Chambers specialising in election law, says the European parliament group does not appear on the statutory list of permissible donors and that the matter would be for the Electoral Commission to investigate.

The precise route by which the money was paid in the UK remains unclear, including whether any sums moved through third parties, a detail that could affect the legal status of the funding. A spokesperson for Farage rejects any suggestion of funding-rule breaches, calling such claims baseless and without merit.

Potential impact for UK and EU oversight

A separate issue concerns whether some spending connected to the Say No to EU campaign falls within the regulated period of the official Brexit referendum campaign, which starts on April 15, 2016. During that period, only registered referendum participants with a UK link can spend more than £10,000, and the EFDD was not a registered participant.

Most of the listed expenses predate that formal campaign, but items worth about €42,000 may have been used during the regulated window, including website costs billed in December 2016 and a trailer hired until the end of 2016. Justin Fisher, professor of political science at Brunel University of London, says that if the figures are correct, spending above the permitted limit would amount to a breach of the law.

Questions also extend to European parliament rules. A parliament spokesperson says EU funds for parliamentary groups cannot be used to finance electoral campaigns or political parties at national or European level, prompting calls from Transparency International EU office head Nick Aiossa and liberal MEP Barry Andrews for closer scrutiny.

The disclosures revive earlier concerns over how EU funds were used by Ukip-linked bodies. Ukip MEPs previously had to repay funds over misuse tied to national politics, while a separate European political party linked to Ukip was found after the referendum to have breached rules by spending about €500,000 on Brexit and pre-election opinion polling.

In our earlier coverage of the renewed Brexit debate, we noted how a BBC documentary reignited criticism of the Leave campaign after Boris Johnson acknowledged there was no post-referendum plan. We also highlighted that the comments have been amplified in pro-EU messaging and underline for investors that UK political and economic uncertainty remains tied not only to the Brexit decision but to how it was executed.

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