Up to 20 Tory candidates were today told that they will not be charged for allegedly breaking 2015 election expenses rules in a dramatic decision by prosecutors.
The Crown Prosecution Service said that there was “insufficient evidence” to justify charges in relation to 14 files submitted by police forces, including the Met, even though there were signs that spending returns had been inaccurate.
But prosecutors said they were still considering whether to bring charges in Kent, where Tory spending in the party’s successful battle to defeat Ukip’s Nigel Farage in Thanet South has been under investigation.
That means that Conservative campaign headquarters —which will be relieved at the decision to clear the majority of its candidates and officials — could still face the prospect of charges being brought before polling day.
There was also controversy over the decision not to bring charges in the 14 other investigations, which were understood to relate to two constituencies in London and as many as 20 or more nationwide.
Announcing the decision today, Nick Vamos, the CPS’s head of special crime, said that the Kent file had come too late for a charging decision, but that no action would be taken in the other cases. We reviewed the files in accordance with the code for Crown Prosecutors and have concluded the tests in the code are not met and no criminal charges have been authorised.
“Under the Representation of the People Act, every candidate and agent must sign a declaration on the expenses return that, to the best of their knowledge and belief, it is a complete and correct return as required by law.
“It is an offence to knowingly make a false declaration. In order to bring a charge, it must be proved that a suspect knew the return was inaccurate and acted dishonestly in signing the declaration.
“Although there is evidence to suggest the returns may have been inaccurate, there is insufficient evidence to prove to the criminal standard that any candidate or agent was dishonest.
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“The Act also makes it a technical offence for an election agent to fail to deliver a true return. By omitting any ‘Battle Bus’ costs, the returns may have been inaccurate.
“However, it is clear agents were told by Conservative Party headquarters that the costs were part of the national campaign and it would not be possible to prove any agent acted knowingly or dishonestly. Therefore we have concluded it is not in the public interest to charge anyone referred to us with this offence.”
Tory Party chairman Patrick McLoughlin said: “After a very thorough investigation, we are pleased that the legal authorities have confirmed what we believed was the case all along: that these Conservative candidates did nothing wrong.
“These were politically motivated and unfounded complaints that have wasted police time. We are glad that this matter is finally resolved. A number of false and malicious claims continue to be spread on the internet.”
