Richmond LibDem Sarah Olney has been reported to the police over her election expenses. Stuart Coster, a local independent researcher who is not affiliated to any party, has sent a dossier to the Met detailing what he claims is evidence that Olney failed to declare between £5,157 and £15,414 of expenses during last year’s by-election. Olney’s spending return for the Richmond by-election was just £1,030 below the limit.

Coster claims to have found undeclared leaflets, missing freepost address costs, telephone canvassing costs and undervalued services. The LibDems obviously deny any wrongdoing and note the timing is suspicious, but the police have confirmed they are looking into it. In the event this went really badly for Olney there could be another by-election after the election on Thursday. Haven’t the people of Richmond suffered enough?