Leave campaign outstrips Remain fundraising as wealthy donors dig deep

Financial Times 28/05/16
Sarah Gordon Harriet Agnew and Conor Osullivan
Leave campaign outstrips Remain funding as wealthy donors dig deep

The campaign to take Britain out of the EU raised more than twice as much money in recent weeks as its remain opponent. Leave organisations recieved more than £4 million between April 22 and May 12, according to data published by the electoral commission, compared to 1.6 million for remain campaigns.

Vote Leave the official Out campaign recieved £3.6 million of the total, while Britain Stronger in Europe, the official remain campaign, recieved more than £1 mn of the total. "Today its clear Vote Leave have deep pockets and they have secured three times as much funding as our campaign,." said Will Straw executive director of Britain Stronger in Europe.

 Paul Stephenson, communications director of Vote Leave, said the donation data showed "that our campaign has momentum, and theirs hasn't. They are failing to raise money at a crucial point in the campaign and people are being turned off by their scare tactics," 

The largest individual donation during the period was £850,000 to Vote Leave from International Motor, a Birmingham based company which trades in the UK and Switzerland, and is chaired by Lord Edmiston, IM group which also gave £100,000 to Grassroots Out. The second largest donations were also to Vote Leave campaign - £600,000 each from Gladys Bramall and Jeremy Hosking. Mr Hoskings is a private equity veteran.Miss Bramall is a former director of Construct Equip a tool hire company.

David Sainsbury continued to provide substantial financial support to the remain campaign, giving £200,000 to scientists for the EU, £100,000 to the European movement and a further £67,000 to the official in campaign. Lord Sainsbury's total donations to the in campaign now totals £4.4 million.

In large donations since the beginning of February Leave has raised £12.2 mn and remain £9mn. Donations from the financial sector were predominantly to the in campaign. Jon (Studz) Studzinski the Morgan Stanley banker who now works for Blackstonegave £30,000 to the in campaign. Francz Petitgaz global head of investment banking at Morgan Stanley gave £12,000 to the remain side