Back in May, Guido wrote on how the Tories had reported then-West Yorkshire Mayoral candidate Tracy Brabin to the police for handing out brownies on the campaign trail – and thereby breaking electoral law by “treating” potential voters. At the time, Brabin claimed she only gave the brownies to staffers, which always seemed a bit suspicious given they had “VOTE LABOUR” printed on the box…
Now it seems Brabin might be in even more trouble. Guido’s taken a look through her declaration of electoral expenses, and not only does it show that she declared nothing for her travel expenses during the whole campaign, which seems impossible, it also looks like she conveniently forgot to declare those brownies as campaign expenses in her returns.
A campaign with no transport expenses is almost impossible, so where is the declaration. Likewise for the brownies, irrespective of whether they were for staffers (or purchased by the local Labour party), they should still appear on her declaration as a benefit in kind. Instead, all that’s listed is an overall staffing figure of £1,749. In law the candidate signs off the expense return, making a false return is a serious matter and lands you in court, just ask Craig Mackinlay. No brownie points for Brabin…
Hat-Tip: Stuart Long
Tracy Brabin, MP for Batley and Spen, is staying true to her word and quitting as an MP following her election as West Yorkshire Metro Mayor. Brabin has just been appointed Stewart and Bailiff of the Three Hundreds of Chiltern by Rishi Sunak, the ancient mechanism whereby an MP can quit. After Starmer’s dreadful weekend, the by-election could prove another headache for Labour. After the local election results, Britain Elects calculates the Tories have a very slight vote lead in the constituency, of 0.3%.
Batley & Spen constituency, local ward results [aggregate]:
— Britain Elects (@BritainElects) May 9, 2021
Con: 39.9% (+16.2)
Lab: 39.6% (-2.5)
LDem: 11.6% (-1.5)
Grn: 6.8% (+3.3)
Ind: 1.9% (-)
No UKIP (-15.7) as prev.
LE results not the best barometer for parliamentary support, but indicative of shifts nonetheless...
If Boris pulls off another by-election victory in a few weeks’ time, it could spell major trouble for Starmer’s leadership…
After Guido’s exclusive yesterday that Tracy Brabin, Labour’s candidate for the West Yorkshire mayoralty, had been reported to the police for potentially breaking election “treating” laws, the police claim no offence has been committed. Despite a UKIP candidate in 2015 facing four days of media coverage before the police announced they would take no further action, West Yorkshire Police last night immediately told the press Brabin didn’t commit an electoral offence – despite not taking any time to investigate the details. Labour accused the Tories of wasting police time, it doesn’t sound like the police dedicated any serious time to the complaint whatsoever…
A Labour source told the Mail that the brownies had only been made available to party activists as a thank you, however local LibDem councillor Tom Gordon claims to the contrary, he’d seen Brabin “out and about with boxes of brownies… that say “Vote Labour” on them”. Guido would like to know why custom brownies made exclusively for party activists would need the phrase “Vote Labour” on them…
Following Guido’s story that Labour MP and West Yorkshire mayoral candidate Tracy Brabin has been spotted by the LibDems handing out Labour-branded brownies on her campaign trail – in contravention of electoral law – Brabin has now been reported to the police by the Tories. The complaint, submitted by Tory candidate Matt Robinson’s agent and also sent to the returning officer, asks the police to investigate whether “this reaches a threshold” to “constitute an offence of Section 114 of the Representation of the People’s Act 1983″.
The Tories tell Guido: “We knew Labour had nothing to offer the voters of West Yorkshire but resorting to giving away treats in return for campaign support really takes the biscuit”. Brabin will no doubt be irritated by the move, though that’s the way the cookie crumbles…
Read the relevant law in full:
Labour MP and West Yorkshire mayoral candidate Tracy Brabin has raised eyebrows after being spotted handing out brownies on more than one occasion during her current campaign – in contravention of electoral law. The 1983 elections law states no candidate can “treat” voters, and will be guilty of an offence if found to have provided “any meat, drink, entertainment or provision” in any attempt of influencing votes. A UKIP candidate in 2015 made headlines after handing out sausage rolls…
Local LibDem councillor Tom Gordon noted he’s now seen Brabin “out & about with boxes of brownies on them that say ‘Vote Labour’ on them”, asking the West Yorkshire Police whether it would be considered an electoral offence under treating laws.
A separate post from local candidate Kerron Cross saw him thank Brabin for the “vote Labour chocolate brownies” given to him by Brabin that day, which the “whole family loved”
Loving the Vote Labour chocolate brownies we were given by @TracyBrabin today. Whole family loved it. And yes, vote Labour kids.❤️🌹 pic.twitter.com/sQdiDcj2Qk
— Kerron Cross (@KerronCross) April 30, 2021
Might an opposition candidate seek to make headlines by making a formal complaint to the Electoral Commission?
The Lib Dems suspended Lord Steel yesterday after his admission this week that Cyril Smith had confessed to him over the child abuse allegations in 1979 but scandalously did nothing about it. Now Labour’s Shadow Early Years Minister Tracy Brabin has written to Lord Steel calling for him to resign from the Privy Council. Read the letter below:
