Ukip caught up in another funding scandal as money has to be repaid

More financial trouble for Ukip to add to its plummeting donations, the suspending of funding to a Ukip think tank and its Electoral Commission investigation – the European Parliament has required Ukip and its sister parties to repay €172,000 in misused funds:

In a letter sent to the Alliance for Direct Democracy in Europe grouping — of which UKIP is the dominant member — Parliament leaders said €500,615 had been misspent. They said €172,655 must be paid back and a further €248,345 of EU grant money will not be handed over…

UKIP is accused of spending EU funds on national issues — for polling and analysis ahead of the 2015 general election and the Brexit vote in June this year — which is against EU rules. [Politico]