Practically nobody paid any attention to a Government propaganda leaflet designed to keep Britain in the EU that cost taxpayers £9.3million.
A large-scale survey on the referendum has revealed that only 1% of voters made any use of the document – despite the cash lavished upon it, which David Cameron called “money well spent”.
The mailshot – which went to every household in Britain – obviously failed in its stated aim to persuade people to vote Remain on June 23rd.
But it now appears it was even less effective than supposed, given that only one in one hundred voters took it into account.
During the campaign, Leave campaigners were indignant at the Government’s decision to funnel public cash into the Remain side, with many Brexiteers burning their leaflets in disgust, or sending them back.
The ineffectiveness of the propaganda mailout was revealed in polling data released by the Electoral Commission, which asked voters how they informed themselves about the referendum.
Respondents could pick as many options as they liked. 51% of respondents found their information online, 48% from TV, 14% from newspapers and 13% from campaign literature.
Only 1% said they used the Government leaflet:
According to Heat Street calculations*, this means the Government spent around £20 for every leaflet which reached a receptive voter – an abysmal return on investment.
Heat Street asked the Cabinet Office – the Government department in charge of the leaflet – whether it could justify such levels of expenditure, and was told there was a “clear desire” for the information during the referendum – even though nobody read it.
A spokesman said: “The Government issued a leaflet to all households in the UK, in response to a clear desire from the British people for factual information from the Government about what the impact of leaving or remaining in the EU might be.
“This reflected practice ahead of the 1975 Referendum, and the Scottish Independence Referendum.”
*Referendum turnout was 46million – 1% of that 460,000 people.
£9.3million divided by 460,000 = £20.22 per reader.