Tory lands in finance ‘fraud’
London, June 2: A member of Prime Minister Theresa May’s Conservative Party, who beat leading Brexit figure Nigel Farage in the 2015 parliamentary election, was charged with breaking that campaign’s expenses rules on Friday, a week before a fresh national vote.
The allegations come as an embarrassment for Ms May ahead of next week’s election in which polls show the Conservative lead has shrunk significantly since she called the snap vote. Craig Mackinlay, 50, who is standing for reelection in South Thanet in southeastern England, was charged with making false claims about his spending during the 2015 campaign, Britain’s Crown Prosecution Service said.
His election agent Nathan Gray, 28, and aide Marion Little, 62 were also charged. “We have concluded there is sufficient evidence and it is in the public interest to authorise charges against three people,” said Nick Vamos, the CPS head of special crime. In a statement, the Conservative Party said that the allegations were “unfounded”.
“There is a broad consensus that election law is fragmented, confused and unclear, with two different sets of legislation, and poor guidance from the Electoral Com mission,” it added. Mr Farage, the former head of Britain’s UK Indepe ndence Party came second in South Thanet in 2015, polling 16,026 votes with Mr Mackinlay taking 18,838 votes.
Mr Farage’s supporters, who played a key role in securing Britain’s vote to leave the European Union last year, have long claimed of electoral wrongdoing during the campaign.