EU referendum "yes" campaign will be allowed to spend double the "no" campaign

The "yes" campaign to keep us in the EU which will be spearheaded by the Tories will be allowed to spend double what the "no" campaign is under Electoral Commission rules.

The pro-EU Conservatives, Labour and Lib Dems and the official "yes" campaign will be allowed to spend £17m between them promoting the EU whilst UKIP and the official "no" campaign will be allowed to spend £8m.

Whilst the disparity in spending will fall short of the 1975 referendum where the "yes" campaign spent 11 times as much money as the "no" campaign, the "yes" campaign didn't have 24 hour media to campaign for them like they will this time round. After reports that Rupert Murdoch has decided to back David Cameron's scotch mist reform agenda after decades of pretending to be a eurosceptic, it looks like the Express will be the only newspaper that won't be promoting the "yes" campaign. The "yes" campaign will also have the machinery of the state campaigning for them this time round after David Cameron exempted the EU referendum from Purdah regulations that normally prevent government and local authorities from doing things that promote one side during referenda and elections.