By-election spend is strictly controlled by law. Law which applies equally across parties and over the UK. Presumably there is no lower legal limit, but the upper legal limit is set at £100,000 per election.
It is illegal to exceed that amount. It is illegal to not mention in returns, expenses that have been incurred. It is illegal to doctor your receipts, by, say giving false addresses for hotel bookings, or use any other means to withhold pertinent information from the Electoral Commission.
Rental on premises, hotel accommodation and food, drink, tips, paid staff time, travel, etc, are eligible expenditure.
This is a Channel Four news investigation into three by-elections held in England in 2014, when there was a growing public interest in, and a real threat to the Tories from, UKIP, and when 2 Conservative MPs had triggered by-elections by defecting to UKIP. Two of them were won by UKIP, despite a massive Tory effort.
The investigation looks very specifically at the amount of money spent by the Conservatives and compares that to the expenditure that they declared...
...With interesting results.
Is this what the Tories mean by Great British Values? All in it together? The Big Society?
Is this what the Tories mean by Great British Values? All in it together? The Big Society?
Channel Four has sent the information to the Electoral Commission. We await the outcome with interest.
