It is the most important decision that the Electoral Commission has ever taken: who to select as the lead campaign for Leave in the EU referendum. Three groups have applied for this designation. If the Electoral Commission gets it wrong, the referendum could effectively be over before it has even begun and the nation could be denied a proper debate and the chance to make an informed choice.
The Electoral Commission’s decision is due this week. It is hugely important because whoever misses out on the designation will be limited to spending £700,000. The Trade Union and Socialist Coalition is unlikely, to put it mildly, to get the Electoral nod. So, the choice comes down to Vote Leave or Grassroots Out.
Among politicians, Vote Leave has the support of Boris Johnson, every Brexit supporting Cabinet Minister and respected Labour sceptics Gisela Stuart and Frank Field. Grassroots Out cannot boast such an impressive list of political supporters. Its best-known advocate is Ukip leader Nigel Farage and after that, Kate Hoey and the Tory backbenchers Peter Bone and Tom Pursglove.
What makes the Electoral Commission’s decision so important is that most of the big political names backing Brexit won’t want to work with Nigel Farage and the Ukip donor Arron Banks, who has put Leave EU’s backing behind Grassroots Out. One Vote Leave source warns, ‘If we do not get it, then we will have to shut down the entire operation immediately to avoid breaking the law. Vote Leave will play effectively no part in the official campaign. Most ministers will go back to their day jobs and do nothing because they won’t work with Arron. Almost no MPs and activists will share their data with Arron. It will be carnage.’
The Electoral Commission’s job in this referendum is to ensure as fair a fight as possible. The best way for it to do that would be to designate Vote Leave as the official Out campaign.
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