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The Sun listed as £97,000 donor to Leave campaign after publishing ‘BeLEAVE in Britain’ pullout poster

By Freddy Mayhew

The publishers of The Sun registered a £97k donation to the Leave Campaign after publishing a pull-out poster supporting Brexit, Electoral Commission figures out today reveal.

The poster was published on 13 June, ahead of the EU referendum on 23 June.

Because it was described a poster for readers to display in windows The Sun had to register as an official supporter of the Leave campaign under Electoral Comission rules.

The figure, of £96,898, equates to the cost of a double-page spread of advertising in The Sun.

The poster featured a Union Jack and the words “BeLEAVE in Britain”.

The cost of the posters makes The Sun the eighth highest donor to the Leave campaign listed by the Electoral Comission.

A spokesperson for News Group Newspapers said: “As part of its campaign for Brexit the Sun ran a pullout poster. In accordance with Electoral Commission guidelines it registered as a participant and has declared the cost.”

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The Sun was in the top four most pro-Leave campaign newspapers, according to Press Gazette’s Brexitometer, behind the Daily Express, Daily Mail and the Daily Telegraph.

A total of 15 out of 28 of The Sun’s front pages in the run up to the referendum carried stories which pro leaving the European Union.

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