Anger as former Labour MP escapes expenses publicity
A FORMER Labour MP was facing criminal charges over election expenses at the same time as Tory politicians but it was never made public, The Sunday Telegraph can reveal.
The Crown Prosecution Service was handed police files on the Labour politician and their electoral agent earlier this year.
This week the CPS decided not to bring charges but – unlike Tory politicians in a similar situation – made no public comment about the case.
The revelation has triggered fresh claims that the election watchdog unfairly targeted Tory politicians and was not “politically neutral”.
However, sources at the Electoral Commission last night said the specific issue was a police matter and it was up to them to decide whether to go public.
The so-called “Tory expenses scandal” refers to whether spending during the 2015 general election – especially on campaign buses – was counted as local or national. Candidates have a limit on how much they can spend on trying to get into Parliament which is distinct from parties’ nationwide budgets.
Theresa May has faced questions from critics, including the SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon, as to whether she called the election to distract from the row.
This newspaper has learnt that while the CPS was considering charges for more than a dozen former Tory MPs, they were also looking into the case of a former Labour MP.
It is understood the case referred to the same issue – whether any laws were broken by counting local spending as a national expense – although it is thought not to involve a campaign bus.
In a statement this week, the CPS announced that Tory politicians would not be facing charges in a move that dominated the day’s news bulletins.
However, it made no mention of the fact that a former Labour MP and their electoral agent had also been cleared.
Sources at the CPS said that the case was not already in the public domain and, therefore, it would not have been appropriate to issue a statement.
Karl McCartney, a Tory candidate investigated but told this week no charges would be brought, criticised the handling of the case. He said: “It is shocking to now learn that a Labour MP was being investigated over election expenses from the 2015 general election but that this fact was never made public.”