Lib Dems - is this even legal?

[WowLibDemLies]

Got this propaganda through the door today. Looks like it's from labour, has Alastair Campbell's name attached.

Yet only after reading it several times and discussing with my DH did I realise it was Lib Dem propoganda.

How can this be within the rules?

I am shocked the lib Dems are allowed to do this? It looks like a legit labour plea. It's not.

This is really Bellow the belt lib Dems.

Can the papers pick up on this please and do something? This should not be allowed, surely?

If you thought it was Labour it’s more of an own goal than anything else, if you read it, liked it & went on to vote Labour because of it then it’s hardly good advertising for the Lib Dems!

This! I am assuming you are a Labour supporter? What is the problem even if people do think it's from the Labour party? Do you think people who might otherwise have voted for Labour will see a picture of Alistair Campbell, think it's from the Labour Party and not vote for them because they don't like Alistair Campbell?

Maybe we should have a comprehension test before they hand over the tiny pencil ...

I don’t see what the problem is. If you read the letter then it’s explained very well, and in line with Alistair’s Campbell’s stance on voting for the past couple of months.

There is no deception, no propaganda.

Did you read the letter, OP?

I read it and don't think it's misleading. Alistair Campbell is still a Labour man at heart, but has been very vocal in advocating tactical voting. I think this leaflet makes it clear that he is personally appealing to Labour supporters in Tory/Lib Dem marginals to vote Lib Dem in order to get the Tories out. I think he's right and I say that as a Labour supporter.

In a previous election, I saw LibDem leaflets smearing a feminist Labour councillor for, supposedly, saying that transpeople should not be allowed to use public toilets! In reality, she had just said women's toilets should remain single-sex. What liars.

I do think it's obvious it's not from Labour if you actually read it. However, the tactical vote webpage does not show that Lib Dems is a good tactical vote for South Cambridgeshire at all, so it's a bit odd. Looking at previous results, Lib Dems got almost 5000 less votes than Labour in the last election. Conservatives got a 16000+ vote majority over Labour. Unless I've gotten mixed up, I can't see why anyone in the mindset of wanting the Tories out would advocate for this..

@MummytoCSJH, that’s strange you have seen that, as I have just looked up the website that compares the five remain alliance tactical voting websites and four for this suggest Lib Dem and one don’t know. I just don’t want a Conservative majority and am all for tactical voting.

The letter is self-explanatory (or 'completely clear' as they all like to say...)

Alistair Campbell was quite famously expelled from the Labour party for publicly saying he'd voted Lib Dem in the Euro elections.

Also, saying you should vote tactically in this election is not a lie, it is true - if you want to get rid of lying Boris and company.

@MummytoCSJH I think you might have got mixed up. Four out of five Remain tactical voting websites recommend LibDems in South Cambs. Expect tactical.vote will update their recommendation when they see the latest constituency polling released by YouGov at 10pm on Tuesday, showing Ian Sollon ahead of the Tory.

OP, I don’t think this was misleading and the imprint will always show you who sent it.

@MummytoCSJH, screenshot of South Cambridgeshire. I think that although Labour was second in 2017 vote the seat voted heavily for remain and was a Conservative seat so i am not surprised they are finding Lib Dems probably best tactical vote for this seat.

Good job they print the names on the ballot paper rather than me having to write them in - Ian Sollom, not Sollon!

No problem with tactical voting, bit I have a problem with lib Dems pretending to be labour by using Alastair campbell and red branding

I have a problem with the Lib Dems full stop. Bunch of cheating sneaky opportunistic chancers. I especially got fed up with them when they sent me one of these letters but this one from a seemingly independent Polster telling me how to vote tactically to ensure Brexit happened by ousting an even more anti-brexit SNP MP. (The seemingly independent polster was, 5 minutes googling quickly showed me, an ex Lib Dem MP)

I phoned Lib Dem HQ and told them to take me off their damn mailing list. (Which they seem to have done as I haven't had any more letters from them.) The guy I spoke to seemed really downhearted and disappointed that I was fed up with them sending me stuff. Especially when he got my postcode and realised I was in one of their heavily-canvassed target seats.

Screw them.

I agree, Sandman - their messaging is Scotland is fucking appalling and to claim they are the biggest party of Remain is a flat-out lie. The way to stop Brexit in Scotland (if you want to) is to vote SNP where that party is the challenger to Tories.

There are a number of lifelong Labour voters and MPs who are asking people to vote Lib Dem or Conservative instead.

It's no worse than the fake news stories they're all writing about each other.

I thought this letter was a bit off too. I didn’t see the sponsored by the Lib Dem’s message, obviously didn’t have my X-ray specs on. My area had only a few thousand votes between cons and lab in 2017, not sure why it’s so impossible for lab to win this tim

The marketing that Lib Dem’s have been sending out is purposefully misleading. I got this letter through in a Tory/ labour marginal - pretending to be impartial until the small print at the bottom. Awful

@MyReadingChallenge that's clearly Lib Dem material...

Perfectly legal. Nothing wrong with it.

Perfectly legal. Nothing wrong with it.

There is a world of difference between something being legal and something being right.

@MyReadingChallenge that's the one I got:

Even the bloke featured in it seems less than happy about the way he's been used in this way: From his Website:

 <strong>My Lib Dem Mailings</strong>

<strong>There’s has been much discussion on the site and elsewhere about a tactical voting letter from me that was sent out last week by the Lib Dems to selected voters. Quite a few PBers have received one. As is widely known I have been a member of the Lib Dems since its foundation and make no apologies for seeking to help the party during elections.</strong>

<strong>I should explain that while I approved the text of the letters I did not have a prior view of the list of constituencies they were going to. This was unlike GE2017 when a similar exercise was carried out with me approving every single seat on the constituency list. If I had had an input this time most of the seats would have been the same but I would have had a different list.</strong>

<strong>For this election letters were put into the Royal Mail system near the start of the election campaign where the post European election result dominated the most recent polling landscape. Since that time of course the YouGov MRP poll and other events have moved the needle.</strong>

<strong>The party has given me assurances about the future.</strong>

www2.politicalbetting.com/index.php/archives/2019/12/02/a-suggested-new-cross-break-for-ge2019-pollsters-separate-numbers-for-remainia-and-leaveistan/

Sorry but the letter talks about Lib Dem/Tory marginal seats, tactical voting and (in bold) "at this election I'm asking you to vote for the Liberal Democrats" so I really don't think it's misleading at all in this case.
I do agree however that there has been plenty of 'misleading' and down right incorrect information about. Have you seen the report published by First Draft? It looked at paid-for Facebook ads for the three main parties over the first 4 days of December. None of Labour's were found to be misleading, Lib Dems had several hundred potentially misleading (due largely to use of unlabelled graphs). The Conservatives on the other hand had 5,952 (88%) ads deemed entirely or partly incorrect. Make of that what you will...

Thanks @nightmid and @chocpear, yeah tactical.vote was the one I looked at, typical the one that didn’t know was the one I looked at haha! And the figures from previous votes were what I actually looked at myself, but obviously I'm not in a position to advise, just thought I'd look into it and was confused! Totally agree - whatever is best to keep the Tories out at this point.

It's not at all misleading. Nothing about it at all indicates that its from labour. Its telling you to do the complete opposite. It's very clearly information about tactical voting and, if you dont want the conservatives to win, then you need to vote lib dems. The guy is saying "I'm a labour supporter but labour will not win here so dont waste your vote. Let's do what we can to keep the Tories out. Vote lib dem". Its really bloody obvious what it is, and everyone has told you that. Time to accept that you simply doubt understand and the problem isn't with the flier.

The way to stop Brexit in Scotland (if you want to) is to vote SNP where that party is the challenger

Except that the SNP cannot stop Brexit, no matter what they want to think. They have no power to do so.

The marketing that Lib Dem’s have been sending out is purposefully misleading.

How can you read that and not know it is from the Lib Dem's?

Except that the SNP cannot stop Brexit, no matter what they want to think. They have no power to do so.

Nor do the Lib Dems.

The SNP, Lib Dems, a sizeable chunk of Labour and the few honest Tories that remain might be able to if there is a hung parliament.

If the Lib Dems are so hell bent on stopping Brexit why are they queering their pitch by purposefully pissing off the very people they will need to achieve that? Because they are a bunch of cynical opportunist chancers that's why.