Plaid anger over election leaflets from Lib-Dems

THE Liberal Democrats have revealed they are not sending out leaflets to correct wrong information they issued about Plaid Cymru’s stance on Brexit because doing so could put them over their election spending limit.

Mark Williams, the Lib Dems’ candidate for Ceredigion, where the main rival party is Plaid, has apologised for Facebook advertisements and leaflets that claimed Plaid was seeking a “hard Brexit”.

In fact, Plaid wants the UK to retain unfettered access to the European Single Market after Brexit occurs in 2019. In a Facebook advert, the Liberal Democrats said they were the only party “fighting to keep Britain in the Single Market at this election”.

The advert went on to say that “Plaid Cymru are backing an extreme Brexit, along with Labour, the Tories and Ukip”.

Mr Williams, who leads the Welsh Liberal Democrats and is seeking re-election in the seat he first won in 2005, tweeted: “Facebook advert is nonsense and has been removed. I value working with all against hard Brexit, including Plaid Cymru, to whom I apologise.”

But Plaid activists were angered when, after the apology, leaflets arrived at voters’ homes which repeated the false statement.

Asked how many leaflets with the wrong information about Plaid had been sent out in Ceredigion, and whether fresh leaflets would be sent out to the same people, Lib Dem campaign organiser Ed Fordham said 874 such leaflets had gone out.

He added: “We can’t send out new leaflets to correct the error because doing so might put us at risk of going over our local spending limit.”