Former Tory MPs to be told if they face charges

MORE than a dozen former Tory MPs are to be told whether they will be criminally charged over the 2015 expenses scandal before the General Election, The Sunday Telegraph understands.

The Crown Prosecution Service is expected to make an announcement before the June 8 vote about whether it will take action over the allegations.

Launching criminal proceedings over the claims would create a dramatic twist in the run-up to the election, which is just weeks away.

The CPS is obliged to come to a decision because of time limits set out in law around when cases have to be bought over wrongdoing at elections. Westminster figures have said such a moment would be comparable with the FBI’s bombshell announcement that it was re-investigating Hillary Clinton’s emails just days before the US election. It was said to have helped Donald Trump secure the White House.

Some former Tory MPs – many of whom are running for re-election – are facing claims that election expenses had been incorrectly labelled as local rather than national spending in 2015.

It has been suggested that if the expenses, many of which were linked to the party’s campaign battle bus, were counted locally it would have broken spending limits.

Those Tories facing claims have strongly denied any suggestion of wrongdoing.