More than half of donations to EU referendum campaigns came from just ten wealthy donors

Sign up to our free Brexit and beyond email for the latest headlines on what Brexit is meaning for the UK Sign up to our Brexit email for the latest insight Sign up to our Brexit email for the latest insight SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Transparency International also found that 95 per cent of all money raised during the referendum campaign came from just 100 donors – a tiny fraction of the millions who voted on June 23. “It illustrates the general dependency of our country’s political parties on a millionaires club of some 50 donors.” The top 10 donors during the EU referendum campaign: Donor Name £ Amount Donated to referendum campaigners David Sainsbury 4,223,234 Peter Hargreaves 3,200,000 Better for the Country 2,060,375 Jeremy Hosking 1,691,296 Diana Van Nievelt Price 1,000,000 Trailfinders Limited 1,000,000 David Harding 1,000,000 International Motors Ltd 850,000 Mark Coombs 750,000 J C Bamford Excavators Ltd 670,000 The biggest pro-Brexit donor was Peter Hargreaves, co-founder of the investment services company Hargreaves Lansdown, who gave £3.2m to Leave.EU, the unofficial campaign group associated with Nigel Farage, to help it send publicity material to 15 million households. Brexit donors in Transparency International’s top ten also include the private equity investor Jeremy Hosking, and Diana Van Nievelt Price, who in 2005 reportedly bid £440,000 - 15 times over the estimated value – for a painting of Margaret Thatcher at a Conservative fundraising ball. The tenth biggest donor, giving £650,000, according to Transparency International, was the construction equipment maker JCB, whose chairman Lord Bamford wrote to the company’s 6,500 UK employees to explain why he supported Brexit, while stressing: “How you vote is entirely a decision for you.” The reach of big donors was perhaps shown in May when Better for the Country was fined £50,000 by the Information Commissioner for sending more than 500,000 unsolicited text messages urging people to back its Brexit campaign.