Vote Leave

Vote Leave logo, Source: Vote Leave, Take Control Vote Leave website

Vote Leave is the official 'leave' cross-party campaign group seeking withdrawal from the European Union in the United Kingdom's referendum scheduled for 23 June 2016.

The campaign counts six members of the Conservative political cabinet in its senior ranks, and includes justice minister Michael Gove.

Being designated as the official leave campaign over Nigel Farage's Grassroots Out, Vote Leave will have access to up to £7 million it has raised itself, as well as £600,000 of taxpayer money to make it's case for leaving the European Union.

Staff

• Lee Rotheram - Director of special projects, Vote Leave, works for John Hayes MP.

Key figures

• Boris Johnson - Conservative Party, former Mayor of London (2012-16)
• Michael Gove - Conservative Party
• Chris Grayling- Leader of the House of Commons
• Gisela Stuart - Labour Party
• Graham Stringer - Labour Party
• Douglas Carswell - UKIP
• Suzanne Evans - UKIP
• Lord Nigel Lawson - Former Conservative chancellor
• Lord David Owen - Former leader of the SDP

Cameron 'plotting against' Vote Leave

Vote Leave have accused David Cameron of being 'knee deep in a conspiracy' to remain in the EU, as letters were leaked showing the Prime Minister's correspondence with big business surrounding its potential role in the Remain campaign, long before his attempts at renegotiation were finished. The letter in question concerns Serco's chief executive, Rupert Soames, who wrote to Cameron regarding talks they had had in early February and his plan to request that FTSE 500 companies mention the risks of 'Brexit' in their annual reports. At this time however, Mr Cameron still entertained the idea that if his negotiations were unsuccessful, he could campaign for a leave vote alongside some of his Tory colleagues, but has since come out strongly in favour of Britain's continued membership.

Gisela Stuart, chair of Vote Leave has said the PM has 'serious issues' to answer, and observed the irony of the Chancellor George Osborne's mocking of Brexit campaigners as 'conspiracy theorists': 'George Osborne accused the Leave campaign of inventing conspiracies. Now we see that David Cameron is knee deep in one.'

Vote Leave embroiled in race row

The Vote Leave campaign has come under fire for 'stoking the fires of prejudice' by arguing that Turkey's supposed joining of the EU by 2020 will pose a threat to the security of British citizens. The report by the Brexit campaign asserts that Turkey's higher levels of criminality and gun ownership offer evidence for this claim, and defence minister Penny Mordaunt made a statement in support of this.

A campaign statement said the following: 'Since the birthrate in Turkey is so high, we can expect to see an additional million people added to the UK population from Turkey alone within eight years.This will not only increase the strain on Britain’s public services, but it will also create a number of threats to UK security. Crime is far higher in Turkey than the UK. Gun ownership is also more widespread. Because of the EU’s free movement laws, the government will not be able to exclude Turkish criminals from entering the UK.'

Trevor Phillips, former chair of the Equality and Human Rights Commission, said that while immigration is certainly an issue that needs robustly debating, the leave campaign had hit a new low: 'There really isn’t any doubt that what they are appealing to here is straightforward prejudice. I can’t imagine what the sizeable, law-abiding, industrious Turkish community in the UK must feel when they hear this.This appears to be a straightforward admission that the Leave campaign has lost on every rational argument and now it is simply trying to stoke the fires of prejudice.'

Donors

Recorded by the Electoral Commission:

Date	Name of donor	Amount
20/04/2016	Patrick Barbour	£500,000
10/03/2016	Peter Cruddas	£350,000
19/04/2016	Terence Adams	£300,000
23/03/2016	Michael Farmer	£200,000
07/04/2016	Jeremy Hosking	£215,500 (three donations)
24/03/2016	Stuart Wheeler	£115,000 (two donations)
21/03/2016	David Lilley	£100,000
14/03/2016	Michael Freeman	£148,000 (two donations)
17/03/2016	Robert Hiscox	£50,000
10/04/2016	Tim Martin	£62,000 (two donations)
17/03/2016	Jon Moynihan	£50,000
28/04/2016	WA Capital Ltd	£50,000
12/04/2016	Harris Ventures Ltd	£50,000
17/03/2016	Bristol Port Company	£50,000
08/04/2016	Alan Halsall	£30,000
10/02/2016	Quentin Skinner	£40,000 (two donations)
01/04/2016	Jardentome Ltd	£24,000
29/03/2016	William Hobhouse	£20,000
23/03/2016	Albert Wiegman	£28,000 (two donations)
01/02/2016	Alan Morgan	£15,000
23/02/2016	Seaway Holdings	£15,000
29/02/2016	Alexander Darwall	£15,000
17/03/2016	Brian Kingham	£15,000
24/03/2016	Rocco Forte	£12,000
18/04/2016	Biwater Holdings Ltd	£12,000
29/02/2016	Ivor Braka	£10,000
29/02/2016	Shaftesbury Investments	£20,000 (two donations)
14/04/2016	Leslie Kaye	£10,000
04/04/2016	Stanley Kalms	£10,000
07/03/2016	Bruce McLain	£10,000
20/04/2016	Matthew Ferrey	£10,000
22/03/2016	David Leathers	£10,000
11/03/2016	Andrew White	£10,000
16/03/2016	John Moulton	£10,000
06/04/2016	Michael Cowdray	£10,000
05/04/2016	Mote Hall Limited	£10,000