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Original poster

How do I report factually incorrect election material?

28 replies

ListeningQuietly · 07/12/2019 16:24

I've had a flyer through my door from a candidate who states that this constituency has been Labour held for 40 years
which would be news to the chap who was Tory MP here until 1997 !

OP posts:
bellinisurge · 07/12/2019 19:56

I imagine the people who live in your constituency and who have lived there for a long time will also know this is bollocks.

Original poster
ListeningQuietly · 07/12/2019 20:10

I have lived here for over 30 years

My question is about rules
How does one get them enforced?

OP posts:
Jessicabrassica · 07/12/2019 20:24

Well accurate and true information is not really recognised by the prime minister so I'm guessing truth doesn't matter in this election.

EpicShitDippedBatBiscuit · 07/12/2019 20:25

Electoral commission? Try their website?

Original poster
ListeningQuietly · 07/12/2019 20:26

Jessica
Oh, don't I know it !

But I thought that lying in a printed leaflet about who the MPs for this constituency have been
should be barred

OP posts:
Original poster
ListeningQuietly · 07/12/2019 20:32

Epic
I've reported through their FB
cannot see where to do it on their website ....

I know that FB etc are the bigger issue
but this is a blatant provable lie

OP posts:
ChristmasCroissant · 07/12/2019 20:34

Is this because of a boundary change, OP?

I'd say contact the Electoral Commission, but if it is because of a boundary change they are likely to get away with it tbh. I bet a teeny part of the constituency has been held for that time!

Original poster
ListeningQuietly · 07/12/2019 20:36

Christmas
No, no LGR here
I have lived in this area for over 30 years
I remember when the MP changed party
the candidate is just lying

OP posts:
reginafelangee · 07/12/2019 20:38

There's nothing illegal about it and nothing anybody can do to enforce it.

You can highlight the error via social media or the local newspaper. But there's no sanction for it.

Original poster
ListeningQuietly · 07/12/2019 20:43

regina
Lying in printed election material is legal?
Really?
How bloody depressing
www.electoralcommission.org.uk/sites/default/files/2019-11/UKPGE-Part%204-The%20campaign_1.pdf

OP posts:
reginafelangee · 07/12/2019 21:11

@ListeningQuietly some things are illegal like defaming another candidate but not the example you give

prettybird · 08/12/2019 09:27

The Electoral Court case in 2015 against Liar Carmichael (Orkney & Shetland constituency, which he retained by only 800 votes) for defaming Nicola Sturgeon failed because "people are expect politicians to lie" Hmm - and also because she herself wasn't a candidate in the constituency.

But at least he wasn't awarded costs, estimated at c£250,000 Grin - probably because he'd brought it on himself by lying (which he'd admitted doing).

Oakenbeach · 08/12/2019 18:26

I had a leaflet through from my LD candidate saying that the LDs were at record levels in the polls and that Jo Swinson was increasingly popular!

BackInTime · 08/12/2019 19:38

Lies seem to be the norm nowadays. The day whatever they like and it mostly goes unchallenged. No wonder the country is in such a mess.

Cattenberg · 08/12/2019 23:12

I once had a leaflet from UKIP (after the EU referendum) that claimed that most young people didn’t vote in the referendum and so couldn’t complain about the result. It quoted an estimate of the turnout that was already known to be a huge underestimate.

Every leaflet from our Tory MP has been an exercise in creative writing. She claims credit for everything good that has ever happened in our area, including a project that was set up by the Lib Dems before she became an MP. She even once claimed credit for a policy amendment that she voted against!

In the interest of fairness, I should point out that a previous Lib Dem candidate campaigned on the basis that they were the only party who could keep the Tories out. They got in, and went into coalition with the Tories.

I don’t really believe what any of them say. Look at what they do. If any of your candidates are/have been an MP, check their voting record.

MockersFactCheckMN · 09/12/2019 07:55

Political advertising is specifically exempt from the ASA Code and the need to be "Legal, Decent, Honest and Truthful."

(I know. It's hard to believe, isn't it?)

RibenaMonsoon · 09/12/2019 07:58

I had a lib dem leaflet through the door that said f torts get in it would be "the end of the UK"
Didn't realise the UK was going to evaporate into thin air... That wasn't on the torys manifesto...

It's all bollocks really.
It's just trying to decide which party is the least bollocks.

GCAcademic · 09/12/2019 08:03

I had a leaflet through from my LD candidate saying that the LDs were at record levels in the polls and that Jo Swinson was increasingly popular!

Round here we've had multiple leaflets from the LibDems saying "Labour can't win here" (ultra-safe Tory seat), and urging us to vote Lib Dem as they have more of a chance of unseating the Tory incumbent. It is, indeed, true that Labour can't win here, but the Lib Dems are even less likely to do, having generally been the fourth party with only a few thousand votes, well behind Labour and UKIP. The candidate seems to be basing his argument on the fact that there was once a Liberal MP in this constituency. In 1922, before Labour existed.

AskingQuestionsAllTheTime · 09/12/2019 20:30

GCAcademic
In 1922, before Labour existed.

Labour did exist in 1922. Keir Hardie became a Labour Party MP in the December election of 1900, shortly after its foundation. So did Richard Bell, but nobody seems to remember him as much.

Forty-two Labour MPs were elected to the House of Commons in the 2010 general election, the second one after the party was founded. (That was in December, too.) And the first Labour cabinet minister was Arthur Henderson (the Nobel Peace Prize winner in 1934), in the Asquith coalition of 1915. After Asquith resigned the following year Henderson was one of three Labour Party members of Lloyd George's coalition government.

The first Labour government was elected in 1924, in another December election.

GCAcademic · 09/12/2019 21:34

Labour did exist in 1922

Mea culpa - you're right, of course. In fact, 1922 was the first year that Labour fielded a candidate in my constituency. It was a straight Liberal - Tory contest prior to that.

AskingQuestionsAllTheTime · 09/12/2019 22:14

I'm actually very pleased that looking for the data about the Labour Party led me to notice that three "great leaps forward" for the Labour party happened in December elections! So thank you for making me do that.

GCAcademic · 09/12/2019 22:28

Perhaps a fourth is imminent? Not in my constituency though - the Tory polls 60% of the vote here . . .

MuthaFunka61 · 09/12/2019 22:33

At the bottom of the leaflet in small type will be an address for the election agent who's role is to ensure that the election process rules are adhered to.
I'd try contacting this address first,but I wouldn't hold out much hope for any amendments

PerkingFaintly · 09/12/2019 22:41

Local paper? (Do they still exist? Well, local media anyway.)

The point-and-laugh factor means it may get decent coverage and the correct facts propagated and serve the candidate right.

Getting actual recorded, historical, objective facts wrong is a different kettle of fish from making unlikely predictions.

PerkingFaintly · 09/12/2019 22:43

But yeah, I agree, it feels like their should be a proper mechanism for redress. Even if it's just a stupid mistake by the leaflet-author rather than malice.