Truly remarkable - the CPS believe that the returns were inacurate, the Electoral Commission fines the Tories but now no proceedings on the basis that none of these agents and candidates really know what was going on.
Really. What happened to the notion that ignorance of the law is no defence?
That is not what the press release says. The standard of evidence for the Electoral Commission is to demonstrate that there was a breach of the regulations, for which they were fined. However, the standard of evidence for a criminal prosecution is much higher - it has to be proven that there was deliberate intent to knowingly breach the regulations.
The press release does not say that the agents and candidates did not know what was going - it says that they believed that these expenses could be allocated centrally, not locally, and so they did not report them. This made the returns "inaccurate" and subject to an EC fine, but there clearly weren't any "hoho, if we pretend we think these are central expenses we can avoid reporting them, bwahahah" emails; so no criminal prosecution.
Faisal Islam (no fan of the Tories) just said on Sky that he had seen leaked emails where candidates / agents repeatedly asked CCHQ is this local or national spending with CCHQ replying national.
The key issue here really is the notion of local vs national spending is virtually impossible to work out in this digital age (and one where moving people around the country is trivial).
The authorities really need to consider how to adjust the rules for the modern age.
I totally agree. The whole idea of their being a clear difference between local and national spending really doesn't exist any more. I honestly can't think of any easy way of making that distinction, so it would make more sense to come up with a new approach to determining permissible levels of spending.
Off topic on May's appearance on the One Show. Philip May actually came across quite well, he seemed pretty on ease on camera (more than May herself, strangely), and likable. Complete fluff but can only help her image. Presumably though the BBC are obligated to offer appearances to the other major party leaders to appear with their partners?
BBC - It's understood a decison on whether to bring charges re South Thanet will be made before the election, possibly next week
Could still be rather awkward. A week before the GE would be rather unhelpful to say the least, taking a leaf out of Comey's book.
Do we know if the Thanet claims are specifically different? I thought it was all battle busses?
The suggestion in Thanet is there was a massive massive overspend in lots of different ways e.g Crick has claimed Tory individuals were located for long periods in hotels in the seat but Tories didn't record it as such.
In these other seats, it wasn't even clear there was any overspend even if you said battle buses were in proportion local spending.
That's a very good result for Labour in London, but implies that the swings against them in places like the North East and West Midlands will be enormous.
'So 14 police forces have the time and manpower to investigate possible technical infringements of electoral law, but are too busy to investigate a major outbreak of violent crime (20 cases a day) by moped gangs in London.'
Hopefully we get to find out how many police hours were wasted & what this nonsense has cost the taxpayer.
14 police forces should not be investigating any sort of crime in London.
@Steven_Swinford: Jeremy Corbyn is questioning the CPS decision not to prosecute Tory MPs, saying that 'laws must be enforced so money can't buy power' #GE17
@Maomentum_: The CPS should have respected Jeremy's mandate.
Not a good week for Mr Crick. I have to agree the media look crestfallen at the loss of a massive story, so they are concentrating on South Thanet, which I believe is a different case.
Ruth Davidson finding it very difficult to retract from her position that Boris Johnson is a lying shit. Or to deny that Theresa May has surrounded herself with Brexiteers. It's embarrassing to listen to.
This does bring into question C4's impartiality, and the amount of time and effort they put into this story. Some serious and searching questions have to be asked of a national, subsidised broadcaster.
BBC, Sky, etc, look like they're attending a wake at the moment.
That's a very good result for Labour in London, but implies that the swings against them in places like the North East and West Midlands will be enormous.
Truly remarkable - the CPS believe that the returns were inacurate, the Electoral Commission fines the Tories but now no proceedings on the basis that none of these agents and candidates really know what was going on.
Really. What happened to the notion that ignorance of the law is no defence?
That is not what the press release says. The standard of evidence for the Electoral Commission is to demonstrate that there was a breach of the regulations, for which they were fined. However, the standard of evidence for a criminal prosecution is much higher - it has to be proven that there was deliberate intent to knowingly breach the regulations.
The press release does not say that the agents and candidates did not know what was going - it says that they believed that these expenses could be allocated centrally, not locally, and so they did not report them. This made the returns "inaccurate" and subject to an EC fine, but there clearly weren't any "hoho, if we pretend we think these are central expenses we can avoid reporting them, bwahahah" emails; so no criminal prosecution.
Faisal Islam (no fan of the Tories) just said on Sky that he had seen leaked emails where candidates / agents repeatedly asked CCHQ is this local or national spending with CCHQ replying national.
Poor Faisal looked completely distraught, the nasty CPS took away the story he had planned to talk about all day.
This does bring into question C4's impartiality, and the amount of time and effort they put into this story. Some serious and searching questions have to be asked of a national, subsidised broadcaster.
BBC, Sky, etc, look like they're attending a wake at the moment.
The way this is playing out does suggest that proceedings in the South Thanet case may be more likely than not, with that case separated out to put some distance between it and the locations where the judgement is that no wrongdoing can be proven?
That was a terrible article - the notion that elections had been 'rigged' was quite ridiculous. Such an assertion wouldn't have been correct even if charges had been brought.
The bright side of this sorry saga is seeing so many 'progressives' who claim to be liberal, and sticklers for the application of the law, throwing their toys out of the pram because the law has been correctly applied.
Off topic on May's appearance on the One Show. Philip May actually came across quite well, he seemed pretty on ease on camera (more than May herself, strangely), and likable. Complete fluff but can only help her image. Presumably though the BBC are obligated to offer appearances to the other major party leaders to appear with their partners?
People love fluff. Voters love fluff.
Why else are BakeOff, X-factor, and celebrity magazines are so popular?
This is an election. Voters feeling politicians are also human helps empathy, and therefore getting votes.
And all that matters to politicians is maximising votes, and getting them in the right places. There are no prizes for "how".
Just a 2% Labour to Conservative swing in a 60:40 Remain stronghold.
My rough and ready model of differential swing from the other day might not be too bad.
It suggests SW London is more positive for the LDs than most of the PB pundits have been predicting.
I don't think that's a safe assumption. Inner city London is exactly where I'd expect to see the Lib Dems increasing their vote share. There are a lot of very disgruntled Remain voters in these parts. Moderate and temperate voters like me often get their ears bent by them.
You may well be right - indeed the Inner/Outer point is one I made yesterday. In which case the pro-LD swing in Inner London must be dramatic (which supports various anecdotal reports from PB'ers and their acquaintances) and good news for Simon Hughes at least.
The way this is playing out does suggest that proceedings in the South Thanet case may be more likely than not, with that case separated out to put some distance between it and the locations where the judgement is that no wrongdoing can be proven?
No you can't say that:
"One file, from Kent Police, was only recently received by the CPS, and remains under consideration. No inference as to whether any criminal charge may or may not be authorised in relation to this file should be drawn from this fact and we will announce our decision as soon as possible once we have considered the evidence in this matter."
Off topic on May's appearance on the One Show. Philip May actually came across quite well, he seemed pretty on ease on camera (more than May herself, strangely), and likable. Complete fluff but can only help her image. Presumably though the BBC are obligated to offer appearances to the other major party leaders to appear with their partners?
Corbyn has been offered but declined invitation for his wife
The bright side of this sorry saga is seeing so many 'progressives' who claim to be liberal, and sticklers for the application of the law, throwing their toys out of the pram because the law has been correctly applied.
The bright side of this sorry saga is seeing so many 'progressives' who claim to be liberal, and sticklers for the application of the law, throwing their toys out of the pram because the law has been correctly applied.
Was Sturgeon wrong or did Theresa May already know the CPS decision?
Why would the CPS tell her of a decision three to four weeks before announcing it?
That's the point. Saying the election was not called because of the pending cases implies prior knowledge. If there was no such leak (or direction) then the chances remain high that fear of prosecution was a motivating factor in calling a snap election.
Ruth Davidson finding it very difficult to retract from her position that Boris Johnson is a lying shit. Or to deny that Theresa May has surrounded herself with Brexiteers. It's embarrassing to listen to.
Ruth favours independence should Boris ever takeover !!
Was Sturgeon wrong or did Theresa May already know the CPS decision?
Why would the CPS tell her of a decision three to four weeks before announcing it?
That's the point. Saying the election was not called because of the pending cases implies prior knowledge. If there was no such leak (or direction) then the chances remain high that fear of prosecution was a motivating factor in calling a snap election.
I don't think it implies that, because the decision could have been made totally independent of any CPS action.
This does bring into question C4's impartiality, and the amount of time and effort they put into this story. Some serious and searching questions have to be asked of a national, subsidised broadcaster.
BBC, Sky, etc, look like they're attending a wake at the moment.
Michael Crick's remit is to hunt out wrong doing and hypocricy and he does it well. It reduces the humour when he takes it too far by getting the police involved and also makes it too tabloid. But it's nothing to do with impartiality.
Looking at Yougov's London form in 2015 and 2016 it wouldn't be a surprise to see that a five point poll lead is really somehwere between one and three.
The bright side of this sorry saga is seeing so many 'progressives' who claim to be liberal, and sticklers for the application of the law, throwing their toys out of the pram because the law has been correctly applied.
The bluster of Salmond and Sturgeon is what's embarrassing - a year ago observers such as David Allan Green were saying the chances of charges were remote.
The bright side of this sorry saga is seeing so many 'progressives' who claim to be liberal, and sticklers for the application of the law, throwing their toys out of the pram because the law has been correctly applied.
The Corbynite Twitter-monkeys are screeching at maximum volume and flinging their shit in all directions. It's hilarious.
This does bring into question C4's impartiality, and the amount of time and effort they put into this story. Some serious and searching questions have to be asked of a national, subsidised broadcaster.
BBC, Sky, etc, look like they're attending a wake at the moment.
Michael Crick's remit is to hunt out wrong doing and hypocricy and he does it well. It reduces the humour when he takes it too far by getting the police involved and also makes it too tabloid. But it's nothing to do with impartiality.
Funny though, how in his world, those on the left are invariably saints and those on the right invariably the sinners....
This does bring into question C4's impartiality, and the amount of time and effort they put into this story. Some serious and searching questions have to be asked of a national, subsidised broadcaster.
BBC, Sky, etc, look like they're attending a wake at the moment.
Michael Crick's remit is to hunt out wrong doing and hypocricy and he does it well. It reduces the humour when he takes it too far by getting the police involved and also makes it too tabloid. But it's nothing to do with impartiality.
This does bring into question C4's impartiality, and the amount of time and effort they put into this story. Some serious and searching questions have to be asked of a national, subsidised broadcaster.
BBC, Sky, etc, look like they're attending a wake at the moment.
Michael Crick's remit is to hunt out wrong doing and hypocricy and he does it well. It reduces the humour when he takes it too far by getting the police involved and also makes it too tabloid. But it's nothing to do with impartiality.
Funny though, how in his world, those on the left are invariably saints and those on the right invariably the sinners....
Andrew Mitchell would vehemently disagree with you
This is a genuine thing. Mayllennial's. Milifandom was just a joke. The Marx brothers at the top of Labour are just a joke. But May is resonating in the most astounding ways
Was Sturgeon wrong or did Theresa May already know the CPS decision?
Why would the CPS tell her of a decision three to four weeks before announcing it?
Yeah, therefore it's quite possible that Tessy in her 'ignorance' factored in possible prosecutions in her GE decision.
I still don't buy that. Why would she call the election for after the deadline if she was worried about convictions? Surely she would have called it for May 4th.
This does bring into question C4's impartiality, and the amount of time and effort they put into this story. Some serious and searching questions have to be asked of a national, subsidised broadcaster.
BBC, Sky, etc, look like they're attending a wake at the moment.
Michael Crick's remit is to hunt out wrong doing and hypocricy and he does it well. It reduces the humour when he takes it too far by getting the police involved and also makes it too tabloid. But it's nothing to do with impartiality.
Some of what you say is true, but it will now come across as a witch hunt. Crick over egged the pudding by a considerable margin.
Ruth Davidson finding it very difficult to retract from her position that Boris Johnson is a lying shit. Or to deny that Theresa May has surrounded herself with Brexiteers. It's embarrassing to listen to.
Ruth favours independence should Boris ever takeover !!
The bright side of this sorry saga is seeing so many 'progressives' who claim to be liberal, and sticklers for the application of the law, throwing their toys out of the pram because the law has been correctly applied.
I disagree. It's fairly depressing that so many relatively intelligent people have no faith in the criminal justice system - or are allowing their political opinions completely to obscure their judgment.
This does bring into question C4's impartiality, and the amount of time and effort they put into this story. Some serious and searching questions have to be asked of a national, subsidised broadcaster.
BBC, Sky, etc, look like they're attending a wake at the moment.
Michael Crick's remit is to hunt out wrong doing and hypocricy and he does it well. It reduces the humour when he takes it too far by getting the police involved and also makes it too tabloid. But it's nothing to do with impartiality.
Funny though, how in his world, those on the left are invariably saints and those on the right invariably the sinners....
This whole saga wont move one vote. Those who believe the Tories are guilty would always have voted anyone but the Tories. To those Ex UKIP and Labour voters who are going to vote for Theresa May on June 8th it won't even register as an event and if it does it will be on the what a waste of police time spectrum.
Just a 2% Labour to Conservative swing in a 60:40 Remain stronghold.
My rough and ready model of differential swing from the other day might not be too bad.
It suggests SW London is more positive for the LDs than most of the PB pundits have been predicting.
I don't think that's a safe assumption. Inner city London is exactly where I'd expect to see the Lib Dems increasing their vote share. There are a lot of very disgruntled Remain voters in these parts. Moderate and temperate voters like me often get their ears bent by them.
You may well be right - indeed the Inner/Outer point is one I made yesterday. In which case the pro-LD swing in Inner London must be dramatic (which supports various anecdotal reports from PB'ers and their acquaintances) and good news for Simon Hughes at least.
Plenty of disgruntled over my dead body Lab voters where I have canvassed who look set to head over to the LDs more as a ABLBNC vote than any other reason.
Edit: Cons remainers, meanwhile, look likely to head over to LDs also as NCBCVLs.
David Allen Green @davidallengreen But not to anyone with knowledge of electoral law. BBC Breaking News @BBCBreaking Replying to @BBCBreaking Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn "surprised" at CPS decision not to bring charges over Tory 2015 spending on battle buses
Was Sturgeon wrong or did Theresa May already know the CPS decision?
Why would the CPS tell her of a decision three to four weeks before announcing it?
Yeah, therefore it's quite possible that Tessy in her 'ignorance' factored in possible prosecutions in her GE decision.
I still don't buy that. Why would she call the election for after the deadline if she was worried about convictions? Surely she would have called it for May 4th.
'Tessy definitely didn't know in advance how the investigation into electoral fraud would pan out, but that investigation definitely had no bearing on her calling a snap election. Definitely.'
Cake, be warned, you will be possessed and consumed.
Was Sturgeon wrong or did Theresa May already know the CPS decision?
Why would the CPS tell her of a decision three to four weeks before announcing it?
Yeah, therefore it's quite possible that Tessy in her 'ignorance' factored in possible prosecutions in her GE decision.
I still don't buy that. Why would she call the election for after the deadline if she was worried about convictions? Surely she would have called it for May 4th.
'Tessy definitely didn't know in advance how the investigation into electoral fraud would pan out, but that definitely had no bearing on her calling a snap election. Definitely.'
Cake, be warned, you will be possessed and consumed.
If she didn't know in advance how it would pan out, and it did have bearing, why did she call for the election to be held *after* the deadline?
@SkyNewsBreak: Liberal Democrat leader Tim Farron says "the Conservative Party driven a battlebus and horses right the way through the spirit of the law"
@SkyNewsBreak: Liberal Democrat leader Tim Farron says "the Conservative Party driven a battlebus and horses right the way through the spirit of the law"
Was Sturgeon wrong or did Theresa May already know the CPS decision?
Why would the CPS tell her of a decision three to four weeks before announcing it?
Yeah, therefore it's quite possible that Tessy in her 'ignorance' factored in possible prosecutions in her GE decision.
I still don't buy that. Why would she call the election for after the deadline if she was worried about convictions? Surely she would have called it for May 4th.
'Tessy definitely didn't know in advance how the investigation into electoral fraud would pan out, but that definitely had no bearing on her calling a snap election. Definitely.'
Cake, be warned, you will be possessed and consumed.
If she didn't know in advance how it would pan out, and it did have bearing, why did she call for the election to be held *after* the deadline?
To avoid having charges laid just a week after the election? If CPS action was a factor, the election would need to be after the deadline to allow new candidates to be chosen.
I have looked at the Salmond clip you have posted. What exactly is wrong with it?
His target seems to be the reappointed Tory campaign team directing the party who have already been fined by the Electoral Commission for the last election. That is true.
Are you or any of your fellow travellers seriously suggesting that the Tory high command did not see the CPS process as a risk to their campaign?
The smell of hubris from PB Tories hangs in the air.
If the Conservatives hadn't been incompetent about their dodgy election expenses then Crick wouldn't have had a story. You messed up. He found out and reported upon it.
In Russia Crick would be found dead in a ditch or enjoying a pot of polonium tea. In the UK we should celebrate robust journalistic investigations.
Conservatives nicked a draw in injury time. Hardly a Champion League Final win.
The bright side of this sorry saga is seeing so many 'progressives' who claim to be liberal, and sticklers for the application of the law, throwing their toys out of the pram because the law has been correctly applied.
I think you are imagining this somewhat, or overegging it at the very least.
Do you not think it should have at least been investigated? Or is anything the Tories do fine by you?
The bright side of this sorry saga is seeing so many 'progressives' who claim to be liberal, and sticklers for the application of the law, throwing their toys out of the pram because the law has been correctly applied.
Indeed its like the article 50 case all over again
Paul Mason @paulmasonnews CPS confirms: UK electoral law unenforcable. While labour movement accounts for every penny, billionaires can buy any election they want
Was Sturgeon wrong or did Theresa May already know the CPS decision?
Why would the CPS tell her of a decision three to four weeks before announcing it?
Yeah, therefore it's quite possible that Tessy in her 'ignorance' factored in possible prosecutions in her GE decision.
I still don't buy that. Why would she call the election for after the deadline if she was worried about convictions? Surely she would have called it for May 4th.
'Tessy definitely didn't know in advance how the investigation into electoral fraud would pan out, but that definitely had no bearing on her calling a snap election. Definitely.'
Cake, be warned, you will be possessed and consumed.
If she didn't know in advance how it would pan out, and it did have bearing, why did she call for the election to be held *after* the deadline?
To avoid having charges laid just a week after the election? If CPS action was a factor, the election would need to be after the deadline to allow new candidates to be chosen.
Given the anticipated size of the majority, I doubt the prospect of that would have bothered her!
Comments
I'm glad I laid Marine last weekend to balance the books (did I really just write that?)
In these other seats, it wasn't even clear there was any overspend even if you said battle buses were in proportion local spending.
Given your comments on Leave and to Leavers on here, how much worse can it get?!
@Maomentum_: The CPS should have respected Jeremy's mandate.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opinion_polling_for_the_United_Kingdom_general_election,_2017
5-7 May, if you were serious
https://twitter.com/DanielJHannan/status/862251334170537984
https://www.buzzfeed.com/amphtml/jamieross/sturgeon-says-may-called-the-election-because-of-alleged
Why else are BakeOff, X-factor, and celebrity magazines are so popular?
This is an election. Voters feeling politicians are also human helps empathy, and therefore getting votes.
And all that matters to politicians is maximising votes, and getting them in the right places. There are no prizes for "how".
Labour are 3/1 to hold Harrow West and 11/4 to hold Westminster North. Seems very generous.
No you can't say that:
"One file, from Kent Police, was only recently received by the CPS, and remains under consideration. No inference as to whether any criminal charge may or may not be authorised in relation to this file should be drawn from this fact and we will announce our decision as soon as possible once we have considered the evidence in this matter."
http://www.cps.gov.uk/news/latest_news/cps-statement-on-election-expenses/
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/06/20/ruth-davidson-believes-scottish-tories-would-break-away-if-boris/
The Tories have more money and better organisation than Labour. They are also more popular. The latter matters most.
FFS.
https://www.buzzfeed.com/patricksmith/the-maylennials-are-young-women-who-love-theresa-may-and?utm_term=.fb7j7y3w8B#.ax09dwzegM
https://twitter.com/alexsalmond/status/857574397229576193
It's fairly depressing that so many relatively intelligent people have no faith in the criminal justice system - or are allowing their political opinions completely to obscure their judgment.
Next.
Edit: Cons remainers, meanwhile, look likely to head over to LDs also as NCBCVLs.
But not to anyone with knowledge of electoral law.
BBC Breaking News @BBCBreaking
Replying to @BBCBreaking
Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn "surprised" at CPS decision not to bring charges over Tory 2015 spending on battle buses
Cake, be warned, you will be possessed and consumed.
*or any kind of reality, for that matter.
My tip of the day. Sell the SNP.
There's not much potential downside to that bet.
https://twitter.com/LaurenceThinks/status/862257426669723652
I have looked at the Salmond clip you have posted. What exactly is wrong with it?
His target seems to be the reappointed Tory campaign team directing the party who have already been fined by the Electoral Commission for the last election. That is true.
Are you or any of your fellow travellers seriously suggesting that the Tory high command did not see the CPS process as a risk to their campaign?
If the Conservatives hadn't been incompetent about their dodgy election expenses then Crick wouldn't have had a story. You messed up. He found out and reported upon it.
In Russia Crick would be found dead in a ditch or enjoying a pot of polonium tea. In the UK we should celebrate robust journalistic investigations.
Conservatives nicked a draw in injury time. Hardly a Champion League Final win.
Do you not think it should have at least been investigated? Or is anything the Tories do fine by you?
No chance.
CPS confirms: UK electoral law unenforcable. While labour movement accounts for every penny, billionaires can buy any election they want