Political

Two Brexit campaigners fined for breaking law during European referendum

Roger Gabb and Sue Inkin have been fined £1,000 each for illegal newspaper advertisements during the 2016 European referendum promoting a Leave vote.

The newspaper adverts were missing the legally required ‘imprint’ which reveals who is behind an advert. As the Electoral Commission explains:

In both cases the campaigners placed advertisements in local newspapers arguing support of a vote to leave the EU. Neither campaigner included their name and address in their advert, meaning that voters could not identify its promoter.

Following investigations into each campaigner, the Commission has concluded that both campaigners committed an offence by failing to include an imprint in their adverts. Mr Gabb paid the fine on 11 October 2016. Lady Inkin has until 2 November to pay the fine.

The case is also a reminder to all political campaigners about the importance of including imprints on electoral material – and also a reminder of why it is rather unfortunate that the government has still not acted on the Electoral Commission’s recommendations to update imprint rules to better deal with the internet (note that linked post is from 2009!).

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