Brexit: Vote Leave fined £40,000 over 196,000 text messages sent ‘without recipients’ consent’

Official Brexit campaign was previously fined and reported to the police by the elections watchdog for breaching spending rules

The official Brexit campaign has been fined £40,000 by the UK’s privacy watchdog after sending thousands of unsolicited text messages during the EU referendum campaign.

A probe by the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) found that Vote Leave sent 196,154 text messages promoting their campaign in the weeks leading up to the Brexit vote.

However, the campaign group, which was backed by Tory big-hitters Boris Johnson and Michael Gove, was unable to provide evidence to the ICO that the recipients had given their consent to receive the messages – as required by electronic marketing law.

Vote Leave has already been fined and reported to the police by the election watchdogs after it was found to have breached strict spending rules during the campaign.

The Electoral Commission slapped a £61,000 fine on the campaign after it uncovered “significant evidence” of joint working between Vote Leave and a youth group known as BeLeave, which meant the campaign had exceeded its spending limit.

ICO director of investigations Steve Eckersley said: “Spam texts are a real nuisance for millions of people and we will take action against organisations who disregard the law.

“Direct marketing is not just about selling products and services, it’s also about promoting an organisation’s aims and ideals.

“Political campaigns and parties, like any other organisations, have to comply with the law.”

Vote Leave claimed it had obtained the contact details from enquiries through its website, respondents to promotional leaflets and also from entrants to a football competition, according to the ICO.

It also found that the organisation had deleted evidence of consent, the phone numbers the messages were sent from, the volume of messages sent, and the volume of messages received.

Vote Leave has always denied wrongdoing during the referendum campaign, and claimed the complaints against it are politically motivated.

Responding to the ICO probe, a Vote Leave spokesman said: “Fewer than 20 people made complaints about the 196,000 text messages we sent during the referendum campaign.

“This is far lower than the commercial texting campaigns who have previously been fined by the ICO.

“Vote Leave was operating in a highly political environment, which makes false allegations much more likely. It is therefore highly likely that the tiny number of people who complained to the ICO were doing so for political purposes.

“The ICO took over two years to bring these complaints to our attention, when they could easily have done so in the summer of 2016.

“Unlike the Stronger In campaign, we deleted all of our data after the referendum as agreed with the ICO, so their decision to prosecute us now feels particularly vindictive.”

The spokesman said Vote Leave complied with “both the letter and the spirit of the law” and refuted the “ludicrous theories”.