Brexiteers in UK government ‘hate’ Welsh and Scots, claims Vote Leave whistleblower

Shahmir Sanni during a Channel 4 interview. Sanni called on Scotland to seek independence 'as soon as you can' following accusations he made that Westminster 'hated Scotland'; Channel 4 - Credit: Archant

The whistleblower who exposed Vote Leave for breaking electoral funding rules during the Brexit referendum has urged Scotland and Wales to seek independence, claiming the Brexiteers in the UK government ‘hate’ the Scottish and Welsh.

Speaking on Not Another Fake News Cast podcast, Shahmir Sanni said Westminster held a deep dislike for Wales and Scotland and urged its citizens to seek independence ‘as soon as you can’.

‘I’m totally pro-independence. I am totally pro-independence. They (the government) hate the Scottish,’ he was reported saying in The National.

‘This is what a lot of people don’t understand – they genuinely, genuinely do not like Scotland. The whole idea of Scotland they don’t like, and this is something I never understood because I grew up in Pakistan.

‘The way that they would talk about the Welsh and the Scottish … You really should seek independence – because they hate you.

‘Get out as soon as you can.’

Sanni, a former Vote Leave volunteer, revealed that campaigners had broken electorial funding regulations during the Brexit referendum in 2016 when they exceeded legal spending limits.

When the story broke in 2018, former Theresa May political aide and Vote Leave organiser Stephen Parkinson revealed to the press that he had had a relationship with Sanni, which was then posted on Dominic Cummings’ blog.

At the time, Sanni’s family were based in Pakistan where homosexuality is a crime punishable by death. Although his immediate family were not aware of Cummings’ post, his aunt and uncle were questioned about his sexuality by Daily Mail and Sunday Times reporters.

Discussing the experience, Sanni told presenters Gerry and Paul McCann: ‘It’s still something that I kind of have to take a big breath before I talk about because it was such a whirlwind.

‘It wasn’t just me being outed it was me being fired a few weeks later then me having to deal with whatever comes with a whistleblower, particularly whistleblower against two future prime ministers and two future cabinets and all the advisers of the last two Conservative governments and one Conservative government before that.

‘So for me that was the most personal trauma that I faced in whistleblowing and I think there were so many different attacks coming at me that I don’t think I’ve even yet come to terms or understand how that impacted me.’