EU Remain Campaign Raises £14m From Donors

The official campaign group for the UK to remain in the European Union (EU) has raked in £14m from donors - twice the amount it is permitted to spend during the ten weeks before polling day.

Sky News has learnt that Britain Stronger in Europe (BSiE) has already raised around £14m from scores of backers, led by multimillion pound contributions from David Harding, a hedge fund tycoon, and Lord Sainsbury.

The sum is roughly twice the £7m that the main designated campaigners can spend in the formal referendum period, and underlines the group's financial firepower as it seeks to persuade voters to support it on June 23.

It (Other OTC: ITGL - news) also highlights the fact that some expenses, such as some staffing costs, are excluded from the £7m limit.

An insider said that a significant sum had been spent by BSiE - which is chaired by the former Marks & Spencer (Other OTC: MAKSF - news) chairman Lord Rose - prior to the commencement of the formal referendum period.

Sources close to BSiE said it would continue to hold fundraising events and canvas prospective donors in the run-up to the referendum.

"We're working hard on it - the total should be much closer to £20m by the time we finish," one insider said.

The £14m raised so far by BSiE may differ from the amount outlined next week by the Electoral Commission owing to the cut-off points for the regulator's disclosure of donations.

However, a source close to the 'Remain' campaign said it would go beyond regulatory requirements by naming all donors above the £7500 threshold - not only those who committed money between February and April.

That list will include dozens of individuals, as well as the investment banks Citi, Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS-PB - news) , JP Morgan and Morgan Stanley (Xetra: 885836 - news) - a quartet which has collectively handed over approximately £1.5m.

Virgin Media's owner Liberty Global (NasdaqGS: LBTYA - news) , which disclosed in a regulatory filing in the US last week that it was seeking shareholders' permission to donate up to £500,000, will not be named on next week's list.

A series of fundraising events have been held by BSiE in recent weeks, with David Cameron and George Osborne among the attendees.

The Treasury is expected to warn next week of the short-term "shock" which could result from Brexit, with the Chancellor likely to say that sterling could fall sharply allied to a sudden spike in interest rates.

Vote Leave, the official campaign for the UK to quit the EU, is thought to have raised substantially less money than BSiE, although it has secured significant donations from City figures such as Paul Marshall, a prominent hedge fund manager.

Others including Crispin Odey and Michael Hintze have also been linked with potential donations to Vote Leave, underscoring the extent to which financiers are dominating the funding of the rival campaigns (Other OTC: UBGXF - news) .