DUP spent £282,000 on Brexit ad that did not run in Northern Ireland

The Democratic Unionist party spent £282,000 on a pro-Brexit advert in a newspaper that is not published in Northern Ireland, according to documents released by the Electoral Commission.

The advertising cover wrap appeared in the Metro elsewhere in the UK as part of a total DUP spend on the EU referendum campaign of £425,000, more than seven times the party’s declared expenditure of £58,183 on the 2015 general election.

Under a loophole in funding rules dating to the Troubles, which allows Northern Irish political parties to accept anonymous donations, the identity of the donors to the DUP campaign had not been made public.

But after growing pressure to name the source of the money, the DUP MP Sir Jeffrey Donaldson revealed on Friday that the pro-union Constitutional Research Council (CRC) had donated money.

It came hours before the commission published the expenditure of organisations and individuals that had spent more than £250,000 during the campaign.

The size of the DUP spend has led to renewed concerns about the loophole. Critics have also questioned how the party raised such a large campaign fund. One warned that Northern Ireland was being used by major political donors as an “offshore secrecy haven”.

Donaldson described the CRC, chaired by the former vice-chairman of the Scottish Conservative party Richard Cook, as a “group of businessmen that promotes pro-union politics”.

“I believe it is a reputable organisation and we are very pleased to have received that donation for our national campaign,” he told the Guardian.

In keeping with the rest of the UK, Northern Irish parties have to report donations of more than £7,500 to the commission. But while political parties in Northern Ireland are required to report their donations, the commission cannot publish this information other than for the purposes of civil or criminal proceedings. The exemption was designed to protect donors from possible threats or intimidation.

Friends of the Earth in Northern Ireland started a campaign for party donor transparency five years ago.

In response to the revelations, it said: “We thought dark money was trickling through our political system, but now we know it is flowing like a torrent.”

James Orr, the environmental group’s director in Northern Ireland, said: “There are implications for the entire UK when even a small devolved country tolerates secret donations to political parties. This funding could be the tip of the iceberg.

“We have been warning everyone in the UK that the unjustifiable special status of Northern Ireland would eventually lead to a situation where major political spending could use Northern Ireland as an offshore secrecy haven.”

The Alliance party, which pushed through legislation in the House of Commons three years ago that should eventually reveal all donors of more than £7,500 to Northern Irish parties, challenged the DUP to voluntarily name its “mystery” benefactors during the EU referendum campaign last year.

Meanwhile, the commission has opened investigations into the spending of both official campaigns in the referendum and is looking into the returns of more than half a dozen other organisations.

The elections watchdog said £27m was spent overall, £16m by remain groups and £11m by leave organisations and individuals.

Investigations have begun into the official lead campaigns on both sides, Britain Stronger in Europe and Vote Leave, which each registered total expenditures of more than £6.7m, the commission said.

The campaigns had seemingly not provided all the invoices and receipts required to support their returns, with some other details also missing, the commission said.

The Liberal Democrats, who registered a spend of £2.2m for remain, are also being investigated over similar issues.

The commission, which has legal powers under the Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act 2000, said it was not yet known whether any offences had been committed.

It is also looking into the spending of six other campaigns, including Labour and Ukip, which submitted returns with discrepancies over how they reported some expenditures, the commission said.

Remain: £16,152,899

The In Campaign Ltd (Britain Stronger in Europe) - £6,767,584

Labour party – £4,845,733

Liberal Democrats – £2,225,058

Conservatives In Ltd – £658,431

Virgin Management Ltd – £488,101

Unison - £461,084

Best For Our Future Ltd - £409,438

European Movement of the UK Ltd - £297,470

Leave: £11,534,426

Vote Leave Ltd – £6,789,892

Ukip – £1,354,393

Leave.EU Group Ltd – £693,022

Brexit Express – £630,236

Labour Leave Ltd – £494,897

DUP – £425,622

Peter Harris – £421,433

Democracy Movement – £421,308

WAGTV Ltd – £303,623

Total: £27,687,325