A campaigner is facing a criminal inquiry in Britain into "suspected electoral law offences" during the Brexit campaign.

Pro-Brexit campaigner Arron Banks has welcomed the inquiry into him.

The investigation was launched by the UK's National Crime Agency (NCA) after a referral by the Electoral Commission there.

The watchdog said there were "reasonable grounds" to suspect that Mr Banks was not the true source of stg£8m (€9.09m) in loans made to the "Better for the Country" organisation, which ran his group Leave.EU.

A "number of criminal offences may have been committed", it added, also referring Leave.EU's chief executive Elizabeth Bilney for investigation.

Responding to the announcement, Mr Banks said he was "pleased" to have the chance to "finally put an end to the ludicrous allegations levelled against me and my colleagues".

He insisted there was "no evidence of any wrongdoing from the companies I own".

The UK Electoral Commission had been examining a reported stg£2m (€2.27m) loan from Mr Banks and his group of insurance companies to Better for the Country.

It also looked at a reported stg£6m (€6.81m) loan to the organisation by Mr Banks alone.

Nearly half of that - stg£2.9m (€3.29m) - was used to fund spending in the 2016 EU referendum on behalf of Leave.EU as well as donations to other campaign groups, the commission said.

'Pressure from anti-Brexit supporters'

Bob Posner, the watchdog's director of political finance, said he suspected some of the money came from "impermissible sources" and that Mr Banks and Ms Bilney "knowingly concealed the true circumstances under which this money was provided".

Mr Banks claimed he was only facing investigation by the NCA because of "intense political pressure from anti-Brexit supporters".

He added: "Isn't it funny that none of the financial contributions made by George Soros to British political campaigns are ever subject to any level of scrutiny by the Electoral Commission despite his being a foreign national."

Mr Banks has been a frequent critic of US-Hungarian investor Mr Soros, who has donated to the anti-Brexit Best for Britain campaign since the 2016 vote.

The NCA said it would not normally investigate such matters, but that the "nature" of inquiries and "potential for offences to have been committed other than under electoral law" warranted its intervention.