VOTE Leave continued its advertising push during a campaign pause after the murder of Jo Cox MP, newly released documents allege.

The Labour politician was attending a surgery in her Batley and Spen constituency when she was attacked by Scots-born Thomas Mair in June 2016.

The incident happened just one week before the EU referendum, with both Leave and Remain sides agreeing a three-day campaign break out of respect for the 41-year-old, who had been elected only one year earlier.

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Now spreadsheets released by Facebook to a committee of MPs shows Vote Leave failed to honour the agreement.

Records published online by the Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee as part of an inquiry detail targeted adverts launched on the platform on each day of the supposed break.

They include 23 sent on the day after the murder, with another 29 posted on the two days following.

These included messaging on the protection of polar bears and calls to bring in a points-based immigration system and those posted on June 17 alone are said to have reached more than four million voters regarded as susceptible to influence before being withdrawn six days later.

Responding to the news, Labour deputy leader Tom Watson said it would be “thoroughly depressing and very, very sad” if Vote Leave – recently fined £60,000 over a campaign spending breach – had failed to honour the agreement.

In addition, the records suggest the BeLeave campaign group also sent out a number of targeted messages to Facebook users during the period, reaching tens of thousands of people as a result.

This organisation was also fined £20,000 for breaking rules on registration and funding.

The National:

The news came one day after images created to sway the Remain vote were released by the committee as part of its fake news probe.

Vote Leave spent more than £2.7 million on its targeted advertising, employing the services of Canadian company Aggregate AIQ.

They include images of bullfighting, a warning that the “European Union wants to kill our cuppa” and a question about whether or not flood defences should be improved.

Others relate to immigration, with details about the total population of Turkey in one ad. But much of the material lacked campaign branding, meaning many viewers may not have known the source of the posts or that they were adverts at all.

Meanwhile, Dominic Cummings, former director of Vote Leave, yesterday leaked an advance copy of the committee’s report into fake news.

After posting the paper on his blog, he then took to Twitter to announce that he had broken an embargo on publication that should have seen the results kept confidential until Sunday.

The version, which may be subject to change before its official release, includes a warning that the “relentless targeting of hyper-partisan views, which play to the fears and prejudices of people, in order to influence their voting plans and their behaviour” could be amongst the biggest threats to democracy.

MPs on the cross-party panel suggest raising the maximum fine threshold of the Electoral Commission and making social networks legally responsible for any illegal content sent out through their platforms.

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Recommendations also include limits on individual donations to political campaigns, the establishment of a new register for political ads and a wholesale audit of social media advertising, along with an investigation into the activities of Cambridge Analytica sister company SCL Group overseas.

The calls follow an 18-month investigation and the interim report is expected to be followed by an in-depth version later this year.

Cummings refused several calls to give evidence to the panel, accusing the committee, which is chaired by Tory MP Damian Collins, of “grandstanding” when it moved to hold him in contempt of Parliament.

Responding to its contents, he wrote that it was “littered” with “errors and misunderstandings about the legal framework for elections”.

He stated: “Someone appalled at their dishonesty leaked it to me so I publish it below.

“It is, in keeping with their general behaviour, itself fake news.”