Elections: Campaigning

Lord Foulkes of Cumnock Excerpts

Thursday 5th May 2016 Lords Chamber

[Lord Bridges of Headley]

I have no idea about that second point, but this was about elections, not referenda.

[Lord Foulkes of Cumnock (Lab)]

My Lords, without diminishing in any way the report of the noble Lord, Lord Hodgson, I ask the Minister to comment on the Electoral Commission’s reference to more than 30 Conservative MPs who overspent and broke electoral law and why nothing appears to have been done about this in the run-up to today’s election.

[Lord Bridges of Headley]

If the noble Lord is referring to allegations that the Conservative Party broke electoral spending limits in constituencies, as far as I understand, the Conservative Party correctly declared all local spending in the general election. An administrative error was made by not declaring some national spending, but the Conservative Party still considerably underspent the national spending limit.