Ahead of a hearing in the Court of Appeal this Thursday [21 February 2019], solicitors representing the UK in EU Challenge claimants have written to the Prime Minister, once again calling into question the legitimacy of the EU referendum and asking her to consider extending the Article 50 process and / or holding another referendum.
The letter, issued by Croft Solicitors, which represents Susan Wilson and Others in the case, references the DCMS Committee report published on Monday, which concluded current electoral law is not fit for purpose and reported that personal data on members of the public was being held and used by private companies, often in political context, to influence their decisions.
During the summer of 2018, the Electoral Commission found the Leave Campaigns guilty of illegal overspending during the Brexit referendum campaign, resulting in a maximum possible fine and referrals to the Metropolitan Police and the National Crime Agency.
The claimants believe this latest report casts yet further doubt on the contention that the EU Referendum represented the ‘democratic will of the people’, which the Prime Minister has repeatedly stated as the sole basis of her decision to enact Article 50.
Croft Solicitors has also written to the Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police to understand whether a scoping project into Leave campaigner behaviour will result in a full criminal investigation.
Sue Wilson, UK in EU Challenge lead claimant, said, “New evidence has been popping up on a fairly regular basis, but {{the silence surrounding these wrongdoings and the subsequent investigations has been deafening}}.
“It’s because of the Leave campaigns’ misdeeds that our case against Theresa May is so important. We aim to prove that May’s decision to trigger Article 50 was flawed and should be declared invalid, based as it was on the result of an untrustworthy referendum. Vote Leave broke the law, and in doing so, seriously skewed the result. The Prime Minister believed that the narrow margin for Leave gave her a mandate to deliver Brexit, but that referendum result could not be trusted then and cannot be trusted now. We hope that the court will see it that way too.”
Rupert Croft, managing director of Croft Solicitors which is acting for UK in EU Challenge, said: “There’s mounting evidence that reinforces our clients’ view that the legitimacy of the Referendum is open to considerable doubt.
“Our clients are concerned that there’s been serious manipulation of our electoral system, including by foreign interests hostile to the UK. They want the Prime Minister to take action in response to what’s been discovered and may yet be discovered by the National Crime Agency and the Metropolitan Police in their investigations.”
Full background on the UK in EU Challenge is available here:
https://www.crowdjustice.com/case/ukineuchallenge/
Croft's letter to the Prime Minister is available here:
https://www.ukineuchallenge.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/2...
Croft's letters to the Metropolitan Police can be accessed here:
https://www.ukineuchallenge.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/2...
https://www.ukineuchallenge.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/2...
Media contact: Sarah Hall on 07702 162704 / sarah@sarahhallconsulting.co.uk