国际英语新闻:Britain announces official EU referendum campaign groups

LONDON, April 13 (Xinhua) -- "Vote Leave" and "Britain Stronger in Europe" were named as official campaigns in the referendum on British membership of the European Union (EU), British Electoral Commission announced Wednesday.

"The Electoral Commission has today designated the two lead campaigners at the EU Referendum - designating 'The In Campaign Ltd' to be the lead campaigner for the 'Remain' outcome, and 'Vote Leave Ltd' for the 'Leave' outcome," the commission said in a statement.

Britain Stronger in Europe is registered as "The In Campaign Ltd" and is referred to as such throughout the assessment matrices and Board documents published by the Commission, it said.

There was one applicant for the "Remain" outcome and three for the "Leave" outcome, it noted.

Explaining its decision, Chief Executive of the Electoral Commission Claire Bassett said: "Where there are competing applicants for a particular outcome the law is clear, we must designate the applicant which appears to us to represent those campaigning for that outcome to the greatest extent."

She revealed that the commission received two "high quality" applications on the "Leave" side, including "Vote Leave Ltd" and "The Go Movement Ltd".

"After careful consideration, the Commission decided that 'Vote Leave Ltd' better demonstrated that it has the structures in place to ensure the views of other campaigners are represented in the delivery of its campaign," she said.

"We encourage all campaigners to now focus on engaging voters on the historic decision they will have to take on 23 June," she added.

Britain will hold a referendum on whether it should remain in the EU on June 23.