Thought I'd start a new thread as this is going to be a major talking point this year...have not made up my mind yet...(unlike bucksfizz)....but thinking of voting for an exit as Europe is not doing Britain any good at all it seems....

Interesting??

Bankroller of Brexit denies claims he broke funding rules
Andrew MacAskill
3 MIN READ
LONDON (Reuters) - Multimillionaire Brexit donor Arron Banks wrote to Britain’s Electoral Commission on Thursday to imply he was the subject of a politically motivated investigation amid speculation that Russia may have meddled in the 2016 referendum vote.

FILE PHOTO: British businessman Arron Banks, who has funded the Leave.EU campaign, is seen during the opening day of the United Kingdom Independence Party (UKIP) annual conference at Doncaster Racecourse in Doncaster, northern Britain September 25, 2015. REUTERS/Andrew Yates/File Photo
In his letter, Banks said his campaign hired an accountant and an auditor, a lawyer oversaw all spending, and its returns were submitted after discussions with the election watchdog.

The Electoral Commission, which is already looking at whether Banks’ Leave.EU group received any impermissible donations, opened a new investigation last week into whether Banks was the true source of loans to a campaigner.

The announcement of the investigation came after a lawmaker from the opposition Labour Party asked the government to look into reports by advocacy group Open Democracy that the origin of some campaign funds was unclear.

Banks questioned why only his campaign group was being singled out for investigation and alleged all the commissioners at election watchdog support staying in the EU.

“The Commissioners are fully signed up ‘Remainers,'” he said in the letter. “It really is quite incredible that an organisation that exists to ensure fair play in elections should be packed full of ex-MPs and ex-council leaders – jobs for the political boys!”

The Electoral Commission said it has received Banks’ letter and will respond.

Banks said politicians who support remaining in the EU are fuelling claims Russia may have meddled in the referendum and that voters were misled by a widely publicised bus during the campaign emblazoned with a slogan saying Britain was sending 350 million pounds a week to the EU.

The commission previously said it was looking at whether a company called Better for the Country Limited (BFTCL) - of which Banks was a director - was the true source of donations made to campaigners.

BFTCL was not registered as a permitted participant in the referendum but five registered campaigning groups reported receiving donations from it totalling 2.4 million pounds, the Commission said.

Banks, who was pictured with Donald Trump and leading Brexiteer Nigel Farage outside a gilded elevator soon after Trump’s 2016 U.S. presidential election victory, was a registered permitted participant and gave three non-commercial loans to Leave.EU, totalling 6 million pounds.

The Commission said in April it was investigating Leave.EU’s funding as well as looking at whether its spending return was complete.

The Commission has the power to impose fines and other sanctions if it finds rules were broken.

Yawn .

Regarding '' impermissible donations'', does the £9.2m spent by DC's campaign for ''Remain'' come into that category? I recollect £zilch was spent on the ''Leave'' campaign

Arron Banks ,great guy ,put in a lot of money to help us vote OUT ..

One of the advantages of Scotland leaving the UK (I hope not)...is that England could remain on British summertime....can't get used to this hour change.....

So the Brexit bill faces commons scrutiny now already MP's table hundreds of amendments to the EU withdrawal bill , so add on another 6 months of bickering , heaven knows what The Scottish side will want .

It's plainly obvious that Cameron did not have any plan whatsoever in the event of the leave camp winning !...which they did of course...something...some committee of some kind should have been put in place way before the referendum took place so that a shambles doesn't follow whilst treading unknown waters....

500 days to go.

For Dilly.

.

Fred , May probably didn't even vote for Brexit the people did (or those of us who bother to vote did).

She is carrying out the wishes of the people whilst the other parties just pay lip service to our wishes and doing everything they can to put obstacles in the way.

FFs Davies has already agreed they can have a vote on the terms after we've left what more do they want ?

Where are the leaders of yesterday?



May they go the same way.

Sulking somewhere with Blair and Brown cos they lost the Brexit vote.

What is the prize for winning?

Just been watching Nige giving the Eurolot

Parliament some stick . He's very good .

A typical 'Brexit no-deal problem'?

Hmmm?

Brexit no-deal could stop Aston Martin production

Aston Martin has said it may have to halt production if the UK fails to strike a Brexit deal with the EU.

All new cars in the UK must have Vehicle Certification Agency (VCA) approval, which is valid in the EU. Without a UK-EU deal, that validity would cease for new cars from March 2019.

Mark Wilson, Aston Martin's finance chief, said it would have the "semi-catastrophic effect of having to stop production". We're a British company. We produce our cars exclusively in Britain and will continue to do so," he said. "Recertifying to a new type of approval, be that federal US, Chinese or even retrospectively applying to use the EU approval, would mean us stopping our production."

However, Mr Wilson added: "We suppose there will be a transitional arrangement. During that transition we would have to look to see how Aston Martin could recertify under a non-VCA approval structure."

Mr Wilson was giving evidence to the Business Select Committee along with Mike Hawes, Society for Motor Manufacturers and Traders chief executive, and Patrick Keating, Honda Motor Europe's government affairs manager. All three called for clarity on a transition deal with the EU.

Mr Keating told the MPs that Honda would take 18 months to get its systems ready for new customs procedures for exporting to Europe. He said Honda imported two million components every day from Europe on 350 trucks and had just one hour of stock on its shelves. Every 15 minutes of delay at customs would cost the company £850,000 a hour, although Mr Keating admitted the figure was not "scientific".

"We're thinking about increasing the amount of warehousing and the amount of stock we would have to hold if friction entered the border," he said. "March 2018 is where we would want clarity around transition."

Integration

Mr Hawes added that the UK motor industry's integration into European supply chains could make it harder to benefit from any free trade agreement with non-EU countries after Brexit.

Free trade agreements require that about 60% of goods must originate from within the countries making the agreement. Mr Hawes said: "The average car made in the UK has 44% of its components from UK suppliers. How much of that 44% actually comes from the UK, bearing in mind those suppliers are buying in supply chains from all over the world? The figure is more like 25%, which is a long way from the 60% threshold you would need to qualify for a free trade agreement.

The problem could be overcome through a "cumulation" agreement with the EU, he said. That would allow EU content to count as being of UK origin and vice versa - but would need to be part of the Brexit trade deal.

Honda better get its act together , 18 months is a joke.