Not sure that this has had much coverage but it's a potentially explosive issue in Westminster. It's alleged that, during the 2015 campaign, the Tory party failed to account properly for expenditure. There are strict spending limits per candidate and they are supposed to declare everything. The allegation is that Tory central office bussed in squads of activists to work on behalf of local candidates and that the expenditure on hotel bills etc was not shown on the constituency accounts.
Grant Shapps was in charge of the bus full of activists - joint party chairman at the time. He has recently said that accounting for the expenditure was not his responsibility - thus passing the blame on to the current party chairman.
See this article for the constituencies which might be involved.
www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/eight-police-forces-launch-investigations-into-tory-general-election-2015-fraud-accusations-a7017976.html
I will POGS; I do no have time now. Usually the person offering the evidence to a comment does so I don't believe it was unreasonable to ask.
Just Google it, Channel 4 news is a start. It could apply to more than one or two parties if due diligence is carried out! I am not defending any party, if any party has broken the rules then they must suffer the consequences .
Plenty of information on election fraud past and present , to my mind postal vote fraud is by far the worst form of election fraud and it is interesting to see the areas that suffer from this most.
Where did you read it please Anya?
Now Labour are suspected of doing exactly the same I read, again their 'battle buses'
It's worrying Durhamjen that this investigation is dispersed to 20 different police forces. At the time the Tory Party had joint chairmen - Shapps and Feldman. Grant Shapps has already resigned over the bullying that went on during his supervision of the Tory election campaign. He has since then denied any responsibility for the "compliance" side of things, thus implying that Feldman should have been the one keeping a careful eye on what was being spent and where it was being accounted for. It is difficult to believe that people so senior in the party should be oblivious of the strict rules on the spending on individual campaigns. it is one of the strengths of our democracy (compare and contrast with USA).
I do hope this happens.
www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/ive-asked-police-investigate-national-8144201
This article in the Independent seems to be minimising the seriousness of stealing an election.
www.independent.co.uk/voices/did-the-conservatives-steal-the-election-by-failing-to-declare-local-campaign-spending-a7065341.html
Mmmm The wheels of justice turn slowly, but hopefully grind exceedingly fine.
"The one-year deadline for opening investigations has now passed – or at least, it has for most MPs – so it seems likely that many who won their Parliamentary seats by criminally out-spending their opponents will go unpunished.
If the Conservatives had an ounce of decency about them, they would admit the investigation has undermined public faith in the legitimacy of their government. They should declare the last election void and call another one.
They haven’t done this, and they won’t. Draw your own conclusions."
I thought the date was today, not the date of thre election.
Latest from the Mirror - Amber Rudd implicated in election expenditure scandal. However as it is not more than 12 months since the general election she is not liable to prosecution.
www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/tory-mps-face-new-electoral-8120591
Kent knows how to do it, Jess.
www.kentonline.co.uk/malling/news/former-mep-jailed-for-fraud-95101/
If they can do this, they can look into Tory electioneering.
That's interesting, Jess. I do not see how they can get out of that one.
Did you see the comment at the bottom, that MacKinlay is already on the work and pensions committee. He must be someone's favourite.
Deputy leader of UKIP until he left to join the Tory party in 2005.
No I had not.
I just read this though, more on Thanet South, with allegations that a well paid Tory HQ adviser worked full time for the campaign.
zelo-street.blogspot.co.uk/2016/06/tory-expenses-spad-secondment.html
Have you read this, Jess?
voxpoliticalonline.com/2016/05/31/a-ridiculous-mess-dyfed-powys-police-and-the-electoral-commission-are-now-investigating-each-other-not-my-tory-mps-expenses/
This is why the electoral commission need to be given more power and have the right to investigate it all.
I believe the original allegations are being investigated by various police authorities. The others are probably with the electoral commission whose role is to investigate and then pass their concerns on to the relevant police force. Their workload must be unprecedented.
I guess that individuals could check whether their own constituency is already involved and right a stiff letter to their local police and crime commissioner asking that this matter be given priority. Has anyone got an up to date list? And what is the latest on the police and crime commissioner that is implicated, having been the agent in the election won by a conservative.
That much, but maybe mush is better when talking about this government.
Costituency instead of constituency? Another apt misprint.
They had to hire the lawyer to check before they could put out any facts as they saw them. Otherwise Channel4 would be in court, instead of, hopefully, the Tories.
The problem is that there is no law which states that these financial statements have to be published. They are kept by the polling officer until someone asks for them. It is not up to them to check them and look for discrepancies.
If Michael Crick had just made a programme about one costituency, nobody would care that mush. It's the systemic fraud that's the problem.
jessM In one breath I wish I hadn't read that!!!! As if it couldn't get worse, it has.
Channel 4 have to hire their own lawyer? Where is the CPS? Where is the Electoral Commission? And all the other bodies charged with enforcing the law?
Yes, I saw that, JessM.
I also noticed in their list that they had used change.org for some canvassing. I wonder why.
Gulp
Latest allegation is that Tory HQ have been spending a LOT of money on "market research/canvassing" Over £4 million that they need to explain in detail.
zelo-street.blogspot.co.uk/2016/06/tory-expenses-canvassing-millions.html
On that we do agree. Is that a first?
I read this one dj because on this subject we agree. I'm more than incensed by this fraud ( because that's what it is ) than I was by ' The duck house' This goes to the heart of everything decent in our country, but I'm not holding my breath.
Thank God for Michael Crick.
Ha, ha, ha, petra. You obviously do read some of them.
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