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I've yet to see any (1) denial that the Brexit Party chooses not to collect (valuable) information from donors that would enable them to check whether impermissible large donations are being atomised or "smurfed" into smaller ones or (2) any explanation as to why they do not.
The obvious explanation - and I have not seen a plausible other - is that they (1) want to put themselves into a position where they can keep impermissible donations they would otherwise have to return and (2) have reason to believe impermissible donations are likely to be made.
I'm happy to have sensible alternative explanations put to me and if they are I'll engage with them constructively. I'm happy to correct my understanding if it's wrong. But these are the facts as I understand them and all the confected outrage in the world shouldn't obscure them.
On Saturday @ScramNews published a piece making these points and highlighted, for the first time, the legal difficulties raised by the Brexit Party's fundraising architecture. You can read it here scramnews.com/jolyon-maugham…
The law places a positive obligation on the Brexit Party to check that it is not keeping impermissible donations above £500. If it doesn't know who its donors are it has to return the money. And the onus is on it - not the Electoral Commission.
