The body in charge of overseeing elections in Britain has confirmed it is making inquiries into Angela Rayner’s battle bus, after allegations emerged about its use last July not being declared properly. Last month it was reported that the bright red coach used by the deputy Labour leader is now at the centre of a police investigation in Lancashire following complaints about Labour candidate Lizzie Collinge’s spending.
Ms Collinge’s election expenses were declared at £18,446.96, just under the legal limit of £20,000. However Ms Rayner’s battle bus, which visited the Morecambe constituency as part of the election campaign, was not included in Ms Collinge’s returns. The Tories have also identified five other constituencies that Ms Rayner’s battle bus visited during the election, and whose Labour candidate did not declare the costs in their returns.
Tory frontbencher Kevin Hollinrake wrote to the Electoral Commission following the news reports, calling for a “thorough investigation by both the police and Electoral Commission… into what could be the tip of the iceberg.”
The Commission has now responded to Mr Hollinrake, confirming that they are “making relevant enquiries”.
In a letter seen by the Express, Chief executive Vijay Rangarajan writes: “As you know, the Commission takes its role in securing transparency and monitoring political finance seriously.”
“I can confirm we are considering your letter and other information in accordance with the Commission’s Enforcement Policy[1] and have been making relevant enquiries.
“While these issues have been widely reported in the media, you have raised these directly with us.
“We therefore intend to consider you to be the complainant in this matter. We will ensure you are updated on this as appropriate under this process.”
He confirmed the Commission will issue an update in 10 days.
The Elections Act 2022 sets out that candidates must declare election expenses for goods and services that promote their candidate, even if provided by another body.
This includes assigning the ‘benefit in kind’ of national spending by political parties, if that spending promotes their candidature in their constituency, as ‘notional expenditure’.
A Labour spokesman said: “The Labour Party is completely confident that all the relevant declarations have been made with regards to the battlebus by the party in the proper way, in line with the rules.”
“Ms Collinge has made all the relevant declarations with regards to her election and unless any evidence can be presented to suggest this is not the case, it would be wrong to suggest otherwise”.
