Friday, October 06, 2017
UKIP loses its principal funding
The Financial Times reports that the UK Independence party and its anti-EU allies in Brussels have lost access to their biggest source of European campaign funding following a series of scandals over alleged misuse and misappropriation of funds.
They say that after becoming insolvent in April, the Ukip-dominated pan-European Alliance for Direct Democracy in Europe has now missed a deadline to register for EU funding, losing access to as much as €1.5m in 2018 alone, say officials involved in the process.
Ukip is wrestling with a weaker financial position at home and demands from Brussels for the alliance to repay €172,655 allegedly misspent on national electioneering. Ukip and its allies deny any wrongdoing:
European political parties, made up of coalitions of national parties and parliamentarians, have since 2004 been able to draw on an annual €30m pot of EU grants that can cover up to 85 per cent of party expenditure, including campaign costs for European elections.
This helped bankroll Ukip electioneering, and in past years the alliance has used this route to receive more than €1m annually. Roger Helmer, a former Ukip MEP, described drawing on the fund as “liberating” money from the EU.
But since November, the alliance has been embroiled in probes over how its EU support was used. A European Parliament-appointed auditor found that almost €500,000 was spent inappropriately on national opinion polling and election campaigns in the UK and Belgium.
The auditor also found that almost €34,000 of funding had been claimed wrongly by the Initiative for Direct Democracy in Europe, the alliance’s political foundation. The alliance denies any wrongdoing. The initiative no longer has an obvious online presence and could not be reached for comment.
Thia decision is not before time. For too long UKIP has used European money to its maximum to promote its agenda of leaving the EU. This is pure hypocrisy in my view.
They say that after becoming insolvent in April, the Ukip-dominated pan-European Alliance for Direct Democracy in Europe has now missed a deadline to register for EU funding, losing access to as much as €1.5m in 2018 alone, say officials involved in the process.
Ukip is wrestling with a weaker financial position at home and demands from Brussels for the alliance to repay €172,655 allegedly misspent on national electioneering. Ukip and its allies deny any wrongdoing:
European political parties, made up of coalitions of national parties and parliamentarians, have since 2004 been able to draw on an annual €30m pot of EU grants that can cover up to 85 per cent of party expenditure, including campaign costs for European elections.
This helped bankroll Ukip electioneering, and in past years the alliance has used this route to receive more than €1m annually. Roger Helmer, a former Ukip MEP, described drawing on the fund as “liberating” money from the EU.
But since November, the alliance has been embroiled in probes over how its EU support was used. A European Parliament-appointed auditor found that almost €500,000 was spent inappropriately on national opinion polling and election campaigns in the UK and Belgium.
The auditor also found that almost €34,000 of funding had been claimed wrongly by the Initiative for Direct Democracy in Europe, the alliance’s political foundation. The alliance denies any wrongdoing. The initiative no longer has an obvious online presence and could not be reached for comment.
Thia decision is not before time. For too long UKIP has used European money to its maximum to promote its agenda of leaving the EU. This is pure hypocrisy in my view.
