Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they plan to require the Conservative Party to reimburse the full costs of re-running the election of the Police and Crime Commissioner in Wiltshire.

Statutorily independent Returning Officers are responsible for running Police and Crime Commissioner elections. Legislation provides for costs that are necessary for the efficient and effective running of a poll to be reimbursed to Returning Officers; the statutory mechanism is for these to be reimbursed from the Consolidated Fund on submission of a claim for such expenditure. There is no statutory mechanism for these costs to be recovered from elsewhere by the Government.