What was in a letter from Merseyside Police to candidates standing in elections to be a councillor warning them not to break the law?
What was in a letter from Merseyside Police to candidates standing in elections to be a councillor warning them not to break the law?
Merseyside Police letter to candidates and agents 2019
A letter from Merseyside Police to all candidates and agents (which can be viewed above) in the elections of a councillor to Wirral Council states that there will be “a focus on education rather than education rather than prosecuting minor breaches of Electoral Law” but at the same time warns that, “It is the absolute responsibility that all candidates and agents should make themselves aware of these guidelines and if someone is going to run as a candidate then ignorance of these guidelines will not be a defence.” Continue reading “What was in a letter from Merseyside Police to candidates standing in elections to be a councillor warning them not to break the law?”
Do Cllr Christina Muspratt’s election expenses add up (a councillor who is on Wirral Council’s Audit and Risk Management Committee overseeing £billions of public money)?
Do Cllr Christina Muspratt’s election expenses add up (a councillor who is on Wirral Council’s Audit and Risk Management Committee overseeing £billions of public money)?
I’ve decided to publish the election expenses by ward alphabetically. However these are only for candidates who got over a quarter of the vote.
There was a small delay in inspecting these returns due to the pressures on the election side at Wirral Council due to the EU Referendum.
The first one is for Bebington ward and that of Christina Muspratt (the Labour candidate) who was elected as a councillor.
Cllr Christina Muspratt sits on Wirral Council’s Audit and Risk Management Committee overseeing hundreds of millions of pounds of public expenditure and also (as Wirral Council is the Administering Authority) the multi-billion pound Merseyside Pension Fund Wirral Council runs (although the Pensions Committee also have oversight of the Merseyside Pension Fund)).
However her donations and spending don’t match in the pages below.
Her campaign lists £243.06 of spending (although some notional spending should’ve also been declared but mysteriously wasn’t as the printing of leaflets at Alison McGovern‘s office (the Labour MP for Wirral South) was done at below commercial rates)).
Indeed the use of taxpayer-funded resources at Wirral Council and at Alison McGovern’s office (the Labour MP for Wirral South) is odd as generally there is a bar on taxpayer-funded elements to party political activity during elections and indeed if people would like to leave comments explaining this it would be welcome.
As a general rule having the taxpayer fund elements of an election campaign (a party political matter) is seen as wrong.
There are however only £150 in donations to cover this spending though. I hope Labour aren’t applying this kind of voodoo economics to Wirral Council too!
The declarations signed by herself and her agent are also included. As she was well under the spending limit (even if you include what the notional expenditure should’ve been) of £1,456.16 it’s unlikely anything that this will result other than mild embarrassment as in future (hopefully) she will read things before signing them!
I’ve included the originals as a zipped file below, thumbnails of the return (which as a lot of it’s handwritten may be hard to read) are below that.
I’ve linked each thumbnail to a higher resolution image which should show if you click on the thumbnail.
Frank Field’s election campaign spent £254.40 on balloon gas but what else was money spent on?
Frank Field’s election campaign spent £254.40 on balloon gas but what else was money spent on?
Today I went to Wallasey Town Hall and inspected several candidates’ election returns for the 2015 elections. Below are the pages from Frank Field’s campaign.
Unlike the local election where there is just one period that expenditure and donations need to be declared for, in a General Election there are two periods called “campaigns”. The “long campaign” is from 19th December 2014 to the date the person became a candidate. The “short campaign” is from the date they became a candidate to polling day.
Frank Fields’ campaign spent £31 during the long campaign (£19 on a mobile phone and £12 with WordPress for a website). However during the long campaign he received a £1,000 donation from USDAW (the Union of Shop, Distributive and Allied Workers).
During the short campaign £7,651.25 was spent (£1,200 on an advertising wraparound in the Wirral Globe, £4,794.35 on leaflets, £35.50 on taxis, £500 on the deposit, £254.40 on balloon gas, £437 on a market stall, £400 on office space in the Lauries Centre, £30 on topping up the mobile phone (presumably the one bought during the long campaign).
In the short campaign, the Birkenhead Constituency Labour Party donated £6,675.75, the Communication Worker’s Union £90 plus there were also two donations from individuals for £100 and £250. Updated 22nd June 2015: Wirral Council has been in touch and said that the names of the individual donors being blacked out was a mistake. £100 was donated by Ken Tasker and the £250 by Abhii Mantgani. These total £7,115.75.
The difference between expenditure and donations for this period was £535.50 was met by the candidate.
However I will point out that in the short campaign there was still £969 unspent from the donation from USDAW.
The documents submitted as his election expenses returns for the short and long period are below.
Birkenhead General Election 2015 election expenses return short campaign page 1Birkenhead General Election 2015 election expenses return short campaign page 2Birkenhead General Election 2015 election expenses return short campaign page 3Birkenhead General Election 2015 election expenses return short campaign page 4Birkenhead General Election 2015 election expenses return short campaign page 5Birkenhead General Election 2015 election expenses return short campaign page 6Birkenhead General Election 2015 election expenses return short campaign page 7Birkenhead General Election 2015 election expenses return short campaign page 8Birkenhead General Election 2015 election expenses return short campaign page 9Birkenhead General Election 2015 election expenses return short campaign page 10Birkenhead General Election 2015 election expenses return short campaign page 11Birkenhead General Election 2015 election expenses return short campaign page 12Birkenhead General Election 2015 election expenses return short campaign page 13Birkenhead General Election 2015 election expenses return short campaign page 14Birkenhead General Election 2015 election expenses return short campaign page 15Birkenhead General Election 2015 election expenses return short campaign page 16Birkenhead General Election 2015 election expenses return short campaign page 17Birkenhead General Election 2015 election expenses return short campaign page 18Birkenhead General Election 2015 election expenses return short campaign page 19Birkenhead General Election 2015 election expenses return short campaign page 20Birkenhead General Election 2015 election expenses return short campaign page 21Birkenhead General Election 2015 election expenses return short campaign page 22Birkenhead General Election 2015 election expenses return short campaign page 22Birkenhead General Election 2015 election expenses return short campaign page 23Birkenhead General Election 2015 election expenses return short campaign page 24Birkenhead General Election 2015 election expenses return short campaign page 25Birkenhead General Election 2015 election expenses return short campaign page 26Birkenhead General Election 2015 election expenses return short campaign page 27Birkenhead General Election 2015 election expenses return short campaign page 28Birkenhead General Election 2015 election expenses return short campaign page 29Birkenhead General Election 2015 election expenses return short campaign page 30Birkenhead General Election 2015 election expenses return short campaign page 31Birkenhead General Election 2015 election expenses return short campaign page 32Birkenhead General Election 2015 election expenses return short campaign page 33Birkenhead General Election 2015 election expenses return short campaign page 34Birkenhead General Election 2015 election expenses return short campaign page 35Birkenhead General Election 2015 election expenses return short campaign page 36Birkenhead General Election 2015 election expenses return short campaign page 37Birkenhead General Election 2015 election expenses return short campaign page 38Birkenhead General Election 2015 Declaration election expenses Frank FieldBirkenhead General Election 2015 declaration election expenses George DaviesBirkenhead General Election 2015 election expenses return long campaign page 39Birkenhead General Election 2015 election expenses return long campaign page 40Birkenhead General Election 2015 election expenses return long campaign page 41Birkenhead General Election 2015 election expenses return long campaign page 42Birkenhead General Election 2015 election expenses return long campaign page 43Birkenhead General Election 2015 election expenses return long campaign page 44Birkenhead General Election 2015 election expenses return long campaign page 45Birkenhead General Election 2015 election expenses return long campaign page 46Birkenhead General Election 2015 election expenses return long campaign page 47Birkenhead General Election 2015 election expenses return long campaign page 48Birkenhead General Election 2015 election expenses return long campaign page 49Birkenhead General Election 2015 election expenses return long campaign page 50Birkenhead General Election 2015 election expenses return long campaign page 51Birkenhead General Election 2015 election expenses return long campaign page 52Birkenhead General Election 2015 election expenses return long campaign page 53Birkenhead General Election 2015 election expenses return long campaign page 54Birkenhead General Election 2015 election expenses return long campaign page 55Birkenhead General Election 2015 election expenses return long campaign page 56Birkenhead General Election 2015 election expenses return long campaign page 57Birkenhead General Election 2015 election expenses return long campaign page 58
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