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Case

Electoral commission to appeal

As you may recall, the High Court ruled that the Electoral Commission had misunderstood the law surrounding donations during the EU Referendum.

The High Court’s ruling is scathing, calling the Electoral Commission “unconstructive,” says it lacked “any rational basis,” was “arbitrary,” and its approach to the law is a “recipe for abuse of the spending restrictions.” Our director Jolyon Maugham QC, wrote a piece for The Guardian, which explains the implications of the ruling in further detail.

The Electoral Commission has decided to appeal. You can read their application for permission here.

We are currently thinking about our options, but we want to see what our supporters think before we take any action. We believe that there are two main options available to us. They are:

Option A: We crowdfund to support the costs of defending our success. Please select only if you would contribute to that crowdfunding.

Option B: We agree to participate in the appeal only if the Electoral Commission agree to meet our costs. There is a serious risk that this could mean we don’t appear in the appeal.

There is also an in-between option where we only participate on certain terms as to costs.

The underlying question seems to us to be about how we prioritise your resources and our energies. You have limited funds to support crowdfunding. We see many issues in society that we think public interest litigation can help with. What resource should we commit – and ask you to commit – to this case, where we have already succeeded?

Poll:

[polldaddy poll=10115734]

 

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