Failure to declare spending casts doubt on candidate returns

The Conservatives failed to declare more than £60,000 of spending on the party’s controversial Battlebus2015 tour, the Electoral Commission has found.

The commission said the party’s expenses return for the 2015 general election included just £38,996 for the Battlebus tour, which took activists to target seats in the final weeks of the campaign.

However, in the course of the commission’s inquiry, the party identified a further £63,487 of spending which had not been declared – taking the total to £102,483.

The commission also found that a proportion of the spending should have been included in the returns of candidates in areas visited by the Battlebus rather than in the party’s national spending return.

The failure to do so “cast doubt” on the accuracy of those returns, the commission added.

The finding will alarm those Conservative MPs currently facing police investigations over their expenses.

So far 12 forces are known to have submitted files to the Crown Prosecution Service in relation to inquiries.

In the final two weeks of the campaign, there were three Battlebus tours – each lasting between six and 10 days – covering the north of England, the Midlands and the south west.

The commission said it “cannot determine from the available evidence what proportion of spending on the Battlebus2015 campaign activity was properly party spending and what was candidate campaign expenditure.

“Nonetheless the commission is satisfied that a proportion of the reported spending was candidate campaign spending and should not have been included in the party’s return.”

The commission warned that the inclusion of candidate expenses in the party’s national return could constitute an offence under the Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act and said that the party’s then treasurer Simon Day had offered “no excuse” for what happened.