Spending on the referendum campaigns
by Philip Gough
Peter Kay (letters, September 26) is right in the supposing that ‘democracy teeters on a cliff edge’, but not for the reasons he thinks. All readers are referred to ‘The Good Law Project’ website that states:
“The Electoral Commission has decided that the rules laid down by Parliament to protect the fairness of the referendum were deliberately and seriously breached. And that there was very significant overspending. The Government is a member of the Venice Commission which said in its Code of Good Practice on Referendums, that: ‘if the cap on spending is exceeded by a significant margin, the vote must be annulled.’ In the circumstances, we the undersigned, do not believe the referendum result, a result won with cheating and law-breaking, can be said to represent the will of the people in June 2016.”
Anyone who feels that democracy should be protected, should sign the associated petition to urge the government to take action.
Please note that the Venice Commission is part of The Council of Europe (not the EU), created in 1949 of which the UK is a founder member.