Boris and Gove hit back at ‘ludicrous’ claims Brexit campaign cheated election rules during referendum

BORIS JOHNSON has blasted claims that the Leave campaign bent election rules to win the EU referendum - insisting the vote was "fair and square".

Fellow Brexiteer Michael Gove added that the referendum "must be respected" after new efforts to undermine the result.

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A whistleblower has claimed that Vote Leave funnelled cash to a separate group in a bid to get round strict spending rules during the campaign.

But Boris last night hit back at the "utterly ludicrous" suggestion, writing on Twitter: "#VoteLeave won fair & square - and legally. We are leaving the EU in a year and going global #TakeBackControl #GlobalBritain".

Mr Gove added today: ";I respect the motives and understand the feelings of those who voted to remain in the EU.

"But 17.4million opted to leave in a free and fair vote and the result must be respected. It’s our job now to work to overcome division.";

This morning Labour's Tom Watson suggested the police should be called in to investigate the claims of cheating by Vote Leave.

He told the BBC's Andrew Marr Show: "What I think needs to happen is Theresa May needs to make sure the Electoral Commission has the resources to fully investigate the allegations made that there was criminal collusion.

"Because let's remember the people that led these campaigns are now senior cabinet members.

"And I think we need to make sure that they were not aware of what was going on and that's why I think the resources are needed and if needs be the police should be resourced to investigate as well."

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Green party leader Caroline Lucas added: "What these revelations demonstrate is that there is something rotten at the heart of our democracy."

Brexit campaigner Shahmir Sanni claims Vote Leave asked a donor to give £625,000 to youth campaign BeLeave in a fraudulent bid to get round the rules on how much you're allowed to spend before a vote.

He said: "I know that Vote Leave cheated... I know that people have been lied to and that the referendum wasn’t legitimate."