Watchdogs today fined the Conservatives a record £70,000 over the election expenses scandal, piling more misery on Theresa May.
The Electoral Commission imposed the penalty for “significant failures” to report accurately campaign spending in the 2015 General Election and in three 2014 by-elections. As Scotland Yard and 11 other forces investigate whether MPs elected in 2015 failed to declare campaign spending properly, the commission delivered a series of bombshell findings: They include:
The Tory-registered treasurer until last April, Simon Day, committed three contraventions and two offences under the Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act 2000, for alleged failures over expenditure reporting.
It has referred Mr Day to Scotland Yard, as knowingly or recklessly making a false declaration on the election spending return is a criminal offence.
£118,124 was either not or was incorrectly reported to the commission.
A portion of spending on the Tory Battlebus 2015, which toured around 30 marginal seats, should not have been included in the party’s central election return as it was candidate campaign expenditure.
In the South Thanet seat, where Conservative Craig Mackinlay beat Ukip’s Nigel Farage, the Tories wrongly included expenditure on a special team sent there as totally party campaign spending — and some of this should have been put down as “candidate expenses”, so the latter may have been understated.
Including spending in the central return, which the commission believes should have been reported as candidate spending, meant there was a “realistic prospect that this enabled its candidates to gain a financial advantage over opponents”.
At least £104,765 of payments was missing off the party’s central return.
Invoices or receipts were not submitted for 81 payments totalling £52,924.
Sir John Holmes, chairman of the Electoral Commission which has carried out similar probes on Labour and the Liberal Democrats, said: “Our investigation uncovered numerous failures by a large, well-resourced and experienced party.
“Where the rules are not followed, it undermines voters’ confidence in our democratic processes, which is why political parties need to take their responsibilities under the legislation seriously.” The report was published the day after Chancellor Philip Hammond was forced to do a humiliating U-turn, just a week after the Budget, over increasing National Insurance contributions for the self-employed, and Brexit Secretary David Davis admitted his department had not yet done any work on how Britain would fare outside the EU if no exit deal is struck.
One of Mrs May’s closest advisers, her joint chief-of-staff Nick Timothy, is also believed to be among the senior party figures who were part of the campaign to defeat Mr Farage in South Thanet.
At least three Tory MPs have been quizzed by police investigating whether election laws were broken in 2015.
The commission probe follows Channel 4 News allegations that the Tories incorrectly recorded spending on the Battlebus tour which took activists to campaign in key marginal seats.
The party insisted it had complied fully with the commission’s investigation. “Political parties of all colours have made reporting mistakes from time to time,” a spokesman said.
“Labour and Liberal Democrats both failed to declare sums of money which constituted a larger proportion of their national expenditure in the 2015 election. Both were fined by the Electoral Commission and the Lib Dems are also under police investigation.
“This is the first time the Conservative Party has been fined for a reporting error. We regret that and will continue to keep our internal processes under review to ensure this does not recur.”
