Tories fined a mere £70k for election fraud

[Graphista]

Even though the fraud involved them OVERspending £100k's!

Police investigations continuing so potentially prosecutions and by-elections could still happen - won't be holding my breath.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-39289195

Disgusting! They basically bought the 2015 GE!

Quite likely that this will be taken further. At least 12 police forces have submitted evidence to the CPS and there may well be prosecutions.

Only the Tories have been referred to the CPS, so the other parties were NOT all doing it.

Channel 4 found 2 Tory whistleblowers prepared to speak out

Louise Kinsell:
“When you hear that they’re saying that we went down and we were just giving the central government message, no, no we weren’t.
I’m not going to lie about that. No we weren’t... They’re telling lies about what we did.

Gregg Kinsell:
"We duped people on the doors. It feels like cheating and I don’t like that...
We were on the bus, we know what happened.
We know what we were doing, and they know what we were doing.”

http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/tory-mp-craig-mackinlay-election-expensesukk_58c8411ae4b01c029d76fcdd

Anon You may not agree wth law, but it is clear enough and it is the law of the land.

Thanks, cdtaylornats

If they got the maximum fine, then the thread title's a bit off.

The fine is just the maximum that electoral commission can do
However, it is the possible criminal prosecutions and calling up to 12 byelections that would really be significant

electoral commission can fine up to £20k per incident as far as I can tell there were at least 9. Plus they can fine for other reasons (eg being obstructive, not complying with investigations which the tories did).

12 police force 20 parliamentary seats involved.

Basically enough seats to call the result of the GE into question.

Channel 4 had been asking Tory party for a comment/meeting for OVER A YEAR. The govt/parliament are answerable to us, the electorate. The press whatever we think of them are there in part to shine a light on corruption and expose it.

Only the Tories have been referred to the CPS, so the other parties were NOT all doing it

And if they are prosecuted for it they I will accept that. But we are ALL innocent until proven guilty.

Depends how you see it. The electoral commision want the ceiling raised so mere might be one way of looking at it. I suppose the title could be "Tories fined the highest possible amount (a mere) £70k for electoral fraud"