As one of the registered campaigns during the 2016 referendum, Veterans for Britain regularly submitted stipulated returns to the Electoral Commission, the body charged with providing oversight to how the campaigns were run.
Having identified data errors, the Electoral Commission has queried one of VfB’s returns. Upon review these were acknowledged by VfB to be the result of incorrect inputting of data. The errors generated no political or accounting advantage, and were unintentional.
Separately, Veterans for Britain wishes to make clear that at all times during the referendum campaign it operated as an independent body. VfB decided to use the same digital marketing services provider as other Leave campaigns including Vote Leave, but VfB ran its own campaign, decided itself how and where to spend its money and adhered to the rules governing campaign independence.
Veterans for Britain is proud to have represented the grassroots views of the large number of Leave voters in the ex-forces community and other Leave voters with an interest in related defence issues. VfB continues to research and raise awareness of important defence and security issues – including the lack of proper strategic analysis in the MoD, the urgent need to repair our hollowed-out forces and in consequence to spend more and wisely on the defence of the realm to achieve this. Veterans for Britain is glad to see that the new Secretary of State has indicated that he understands that military requirements must lead and adequate funding follow in the proper conduct of Defence.
VfB look forward to the parties expressing concern about funding during the campaign, which Leave won, now critiquing the genuine misapplication of funds during the referendum, which was in the indisputable form of £9 million of taxpayers’ money that was spent on the Government’s openly pro-Remain brochure, distributing additional pro-Remain literature to every household.
