The recent Extinction Rebellion protest was a breath of fresh air; not just because it got Britain talking about climate change for the first time in what feels like a generation, but also because it sent a very clear reminder to politicians: “some things are bigger than Brexit!”.
So, maybe now is the right time to talk about something else that’s bigger than Brexit. The fall-out from the 2016 referendum has exposed the fact that our democracy is in danger of being overwhelmed by a toxic combination of dodgy data and dirty money, and if we don’t tackle this now, then future generations will pay a heavy price.
Our political system can only function effectively if the public is confident that our democracy is being policed effectively and that the playing field is level, yet drip by drip we have seen how our legislative and regulatory frameworks are simply not fit for purpose. First Cambridge Analytica, the disgraced big data company, harvested Facebook data to sell to the highest bidder – a scandal that saw Facebook receive the maximum fine of £500,000. Then there was Leave.EU – the unofficial Brexit campaign bankrolled by Arron Banks – which was recently found guilty of “multiple breaches of electoral law“, fined £70,000 and referred to the Metropolitan Police for suspected criminal offences. In July 2018, Vote Leave – the official Brexit campaign – was fined £61,000 for co-ordinating with BeLeave, which was in turn fined £20,000. Then, in November 2018, Banks was in the headlines again, this time referred to the National Crime Agency by the Electoral Commission who were worried that a “number of criminal offences may have been committed” and had reasonable grounds to believe that that Banks was "not the true source" of an £8million donation made to Leave.EU. (Given the severity of the accusations and the high profile nature of this case it is worrying that we have heard so little from the NCA since.)
