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Leave.EU was a political campaign group that was first established to support the
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...
's withdrawal from the
European Union
The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been de ...
in the
June 2016 referendum.
Founded in July 2015 as The Know, the campaign was relaunched in September of that year with its name changed to "Leave.eu" to reflect altered wording in the referendum question.
The campaign, along with rival organisation
Vote Leave
Vote Leave was a campaigning organisation that supported a "Leave" vote in the 2016 United Kingdom European Union membership referendum. On 13 April 2016 it was designated by the Electoral Commission as the official campaign in favour of leav ...
, aimed to be formally designated as the lead campaign for the "Leave" referendum vote by the
Electoral Commission
An election commission is a body charged with overseeing the implementation of electioneering process of any country. The formal names of election commissions vary from jurisdiction to jurisdiction, and may be styled an electoral commission, a c ...
;
however, on 13 April 2016, Vote Leave was designated as the official campaign.
The campaign was fined
£70,000 in May 2018, after the Electoral Commission found that they failed to report at least £77,380 in spending. In February 2019, Leave.EU and Eldon Insurance owned by its founder
Arron Banks
Arron Fraser Andrew Banks (born 1966) is a British businessman and political donor. He is the co-founder (with Richard Tice) of the Leave.EU campaign. Banks was previously one of the largest donors to the UK Independence Party (UKIP) and helped ...
were fined £120,000 over data law breaches.
A number of prominent members of the campaign have subsequently been linked to alleged
Russian interference in the 2016 Brexit referendum.
History
The campaign was co founded by
Bristol
Bristol () is a city, ceremonial county and unitary authority in England. Situated on the River Avon, it is bordered by the ceremonial counties of Gloucestershire to the north and Somerset to the south. Bristol is the most populous city in ...
based businessman and
UKIP
The UK Independence Party (UKIP; ) is a Eurosceptic, right-wing populist political party in the United Kingdom. The party reached its greatest level of success in the mid-2010s, when it gained two members of Parliament and was the largest p ...
donor
Arron Banks
Arron Fraser Andrew Banks (born 1966) is a British businessman and political donor. He is the co-founder (with Richard Tice) of the Leave.EU campaign. Banks was previously one of the largest donors to the UK Independence Party (UKIP) and helped ...
, with property entrepreneur
Richard Tice
Richard James Sunley Tice (born 13 September 1964) is a British businessman and right wing politician who has been Leader of Reform UK since 6 March 2021.
Tice was CEO of the real estate group CLS Holdings from 2010 to 2014, after which he bec ...
and early financial backing from
Jim Mellon.
It initially set about bringing together a range of different
Eurosceptic groups under the
umbrella
An umbrella or parasol is a folding canopy supported by wooden or metal ribs that is usually mounted on a wooden, metal, or plastic pole. It is designed to protect a person against rain or sunlight. The term ''umbrella'' is traditionally use ...
of ''The Know''.
As the campaign was being renamed ''Leave.EU'', UKIP leader
Nigel Farage
Nigel Paul Farage (; born 3 April 1964) is a British broadcaster and former politician who was Leader of the UK Independence Party (UKIP) from 2006 to 2009 and 2010 to 2016 and Leader of the Brexit Party (renamed Reform UK in 2021) from 2 ...
gave a public endorsement at the party's annual conference in
Doncaster
Doncaster (, ) is a city in South Yorkshire, England. Named after the River Don, it is the administrative centre of the larger City of Doncaster. It is the second largest settlement in South Yorkshire after Sheffield. Doncaster is situated in ...
on 25 September 2015.
Farage later clarified that he backed both Leave campaigns as they targeted 'different audiences.'
The campaign was then reportedly refused access to the
Conservative
Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization in ...
annual conference and the
TUC annual congress, while being allowed to attend the
Labour and
Liberal Democrat
Several political parties from around the world have been called the Liberal Democratic Party or Liberal Democrats. These parties usually follow a liberal democratic ideology.
Active parties
Former parties
See also
*Liberal democracy
*Lib ...
conferences. American political strategy firm
Goddard Gunster
Goddard Gunster is an American lobbying firm and referendum specialist founded by the late Ben Goddard. Its current president is Gerry Gunster.
Leave.EU
In 2016 Goddard Gunster were engaged (through businessman Arron Banks) by Leave.EU, a politi ...
was appointed for its expertise in winning referendums.
In November 2015, Banks wrote to the Vote Leave group proposing that the two groups should merge. He cited his concern that having two rival Eurosceptic groups was damaging the chances of a campaign victory. On 17 November 2015, Leave.EU held its launch event, according to ''
The Guardian
''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...
''.
On 18 November 2015, Arron Banks would have had the opportunity to invest in a Russian gold mine, according to ''The Guardian'', although the deal was announced in July 2016.
Nonetheless, gold mine discussions had no result, according to Banks.
The campaign petitioned the
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC
Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
,
ITV and
Sky
The sky is an unobstructed view upward from the surface of the Earth. It includes the atmosphere and outer space. It may also be considered a place between the ground and outer space, thus distinct from outer space.
In the field of astronomy, ...
over their alleged
conflation
Conflation is the merging of two or more sets of information, texts, ideas, opinions, etc., into one, often in error. Conflation is often misunderstood. It originally meant to fuse or blend, but has since come to mean the same as equate, treati ...
of the
European Union
The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been de ...
with the continent of Europe in their output, which it said was an example of
media bias
Media bias is the bias of journalists and news producers within the mass media in the selection of many events and stories that are reported and how they are covered. The term "media bias" implies a pervasive or widespread bias contravening of J ...
.
In March 2016, financial supporter,
Peter Hargreaves
Peter Kendal Hargreaves Order of the British Empire, CBE (born 5 October 1946) is an English co-founder with Stephen Lansdown of Hargreaves Lansdown, one of the United Kingdom's largest financial services businesses. He is a shareholder of Hargr ...
,
wrote to 15 million householders in the United Kingdom asking them to support the leave campaign.
When rival organisation Vote Leave was designated by the
Electoral Commission
An election commission is a body charged with overseeing the implementation of electioneering process of any country. The formal names of election commissions vary from jurisdiction to jurisdiction, and may be styled an electoral commission, a c ...
on 13 April 2016 as the official referendum campaign in favour of leaving the EU,
Andy Wigmore said that Leave.EU would apply for a judicial review of the decision. He suggested that the referendum could be delayed until 23 October 2016 while the review took place.
However, the next day (14 April 2016), chairman Arron Banks announced that Leave.EU would not be pursuing the judicial review any further. While the campaign states that "according to legal experts" it is clear they would win, they have decided that it is time to turn their focus fully towards "the real opponents in this campaign: those who are repeatedly trying to scare the British public".
Leave.EU and
Grassroots Out organized
Bpoplive for 8 May 2016, the day after
local and regional elections, in an attempt to reach the key youth demographic, but the event was cancelled.
After Farage was not included in a referendum debate, Leave.EU retaliated by publishing the private contact details of BBC officials and Vote Leave members including UKIP MP
Douglas Carsell and former UKIP deputy
Suzanne Evans. Arron Banks claimed that "facts don't work ... You've got to connect with people emotionally. It's the
Trump
Trump most commonly refers to:
* Donald Trump (born 1946), 45th president of the United States (2017–2021)
* Trump (card games), any playing card given an ad-hoc high rank
Trump may also refer to:
Businesses and organizations
* Donald J. T ...
success."
Shortly after the referendum, Tice left Leave.EU, and co-founded the pressure group
Leave Means Leave
Leave Means Leave was a pro-Brexit, Eurosceptic political pressure group organisation that campaigned and lobbied for the United Kingdom to leave the European Union following the 'Leave' result of the EU referendum on 23 June 2016. The campaig ...
.
In April 2019,
Channel 4 News
''Channel 4 News'' is the main news programme on British television broadcaster Channel 4. It is produced by ITN, and has been in operation since Channel 4's launch in November 1982.
Current productions
''Channel 4 News''
''Channel 4 News'' ...
reported that an anti-immigration viral video produced by Leave.EU during the referendum campaign was faked, and that the group appeared to have staged photos of immigrants attacking women in the United Kingdom. Banks accused Channel 4 News journalists of creating "fake news" themselves.
Legal issues
Leave.EU have been investigated and fined multiple times for their actions, including issues relating to electoral spending, data protection and libel.
On 1 October 2020, Leave.EU were forced to apologise and pay damages for libel to Labour MP
Naz Shah after they made a social media post which accused her of being a "grooming gangs apologist". In a statement, Leave.EU said that their post was "ill-judged and untrue" and described Shah as a "vociferous campaigner for victims of grooming gangs".
Referendum spending investigation
On 21 April 2017, the
Electoral Commission
An election commission is a body charged with overseeing the implementation of electioneering process of any country. The formal names of election commissions vary from jurisdiction to jurisdiction, and may be styled an electoral commission, a c ...
announced that it had launched an investigation into the electoral spending of the campaign group at the
EU Referendum
This is a list of referendums related to the European Union, or referendums related to the European Communities, which were predecessors of the European Union. Since 1972, a total of 48 referendums have been held by EU member states, candidate st ...
, saying that there were reasonable grounds to suspect that potential offences may have been committed. The investigation will focus on whether impermissible donations were taken and whether the group's spending return was complete. Banks said the group "...will be vigorously defending" the allegations.
In May 2018, Leave.EU was fined £70,000 for breaking electoral spending laws by failing to report spendings of at least £77,380 during the 2016 EU Referendum.
On 1 November 2018, the Electoral Commission referred Banks and Liz Bilney to the United Kingdom's
National Crime Agency
The National Crime Agency (NCA) is a national law enforcement agency in the United Kingdom. It is the UK's lead agency against organised crime; human, weapon and drug trafficking; cybercrime; and economic crime that goes across regional and in ...
regarding the source of money used to fund Vote Leave's activities during the referendum campaign. On 13 September 2019, the Metropolitan Police halted their investigation into Leave.EU's spending during the referendum campaign due to insufficient evidence, on the advice of the
Crown Prosecution Service
The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) is the principal public agency for conducting criminal prosecutions in England and Wales. It is headed by the Director of Public Prosecutions.
The main responsibilities of the CPS are to provide legal advi ...
(CPS). They did however state that there had been "technical breaches" of electoral law by Leave.EU. Later in the month, the National Crime Agency concluded that it had "found no evidence that any criminal offences have been committed under
PPERA or company law by any of the individuals or organisations referred to it by the Electoral Commission" with regards to spending during the EU referendum campaign. They therefore chose not to take any further action against Leave.EU.
Data protection investigation
Banks's company,
Eldon Insurance's Bristol headquarters was also the HQ for Leave.EU.
Brittany Kaiser
Brittany Nicole Kaiser (born November 6, 1987) is the former business development director for Cambridge Analytica, which collapsed after details of its misuse of Facebook data became public. Cambridge Analytica potentially impacted voting in t ...
, a former director of
Cambridge Analytica
Cambridge Analytica Ltd (CA), previously known as SCL USA, was a British political consulting firm that came to prominence through the Facebook–Cambridge Analytica data scandal. It was started in 2013, as a subsidiary of the private intellig ...
has said that when she visited in the end of 2015, she saw Eldon employees staffing a call centre for the campaign. Adding that she thought the staff, most who had never participated in politics before, were calling leads or current customers of Eldon.
It was reported in April 2018 that the UK
Information Commissioner's Office
The Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) is a non-departmental public body which reports directly to the Parliament of the United Kingdom and is sponsored by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS). It is the independe ...
was investigating whether Eldon shared data with the Leave.EU campaign. Although Banks had previously admitted advertising insurance products to campaign supporters, he stated “Eldon has never given or used any data to Leave.EU. They are separate entities with strong data control rules. And vice versa.”
[
In February 2019, Leave.EU and Eldon Insurance owned by its founder Arron Banks were fined £120,000 over data law breaches.
]
EU domain name
In an attempt to continue using their .EU internet domain name
A domain name is a string that identifies a realm of administrative autonomy, authority or control within the Internet. Domain names are often used to identify services provided through the Internet, such as websites, email services and more. As ...
after the UK had left the European Union, the organization moved its registered address to the Republic of Ireland
Ireland ( ga, Éire ), also known as the Republic of Ireland (), is a country in north-western Europe consisting of 26 of the 32 Counties of Ireland, counties of the island of Ireland. The capital and largest city is Dublin, on the eastern ...
at the end of 2020. Access to their website was temporarily suspended in January 2021 following disputes about the validity of the move.
See also
*Business for Britain
Business for Britain was a eurosceptic campaign group which sought a renegotiation of the relationship between the United Kingdom (UK) and the European Union (EU). The campaign was founded in April 2013 by Matthew Elliott.
History
The company w ...
*Conservatives for Britain
Conservatism is a Philosophy of culture, cultural, Social philosophy, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in r ...
*Democracy Movement
The Democracy Movement (DM) is a crossparty Eurosceptic pressure group in the UK with over 320,000 registered supporters and 160 local branches.
History
The Democracy Movement was founded in 1998 through a merger of the Referendum Movement, a cro ...
References
{{United Kingdom European Union membership referendum, 2016
Euroscepticism in the United Kingdom
2016 United Kingdom European Union membership referendum
2015 establishments in the United Kingdom
Organizations established in 2015
Brexit–related advocacy groups in the United Kingdom