Health department warned Vote Leave campaign not to use NHS logo

The Vote Leave campaign in the UK referendum on membership of the European Union was repeatedly warned by the Department of Health for England not to use the NHS logo ahead of the vote, The BMJ has discovered.

Emails obtained by a GP under freedom of information legislation show that in February 2016 the department’s NHS brand and identity team issued warnings to the campaign about using the logo.1

The NHS logo was a prominent part of the Vote Leave campaign. It was displayed on leaflets delivered to homes and on the “Brexit battle bus” that toured the United Kingdom from May 2016, ahead of the referendum on 23 June. The advertisement on the side of the bus said, “We send the EU £350m a week. Let’s fund our NHS …