Christine Jardine latest Lib Dem MP to face questions over election expenses
2 min read
A second Liberal Democrat MP is facing questions over her election expenses after being accused of failing to declare thousands of pounds of spending.
Christine Jardine, who won the Edinburgh West seat at the general election, recorded a third of her outgoings during the campaign as national spending, helping to keep her under the limit for local expenses.
An investigation by The Herald revealed that had the former journalist recorded the £3,000 as local spending, Ms Jardine would have been £1,350 over the spending limit.
After a tightly fought contest, Ms Jardine won the seat by 2,988 votes from the SNP’s Toni Giugliano.
The same paper revealed earlier this week that Lib Dem deputy leader Jo Swinson is also facing scrutiny over election spending.
Her declaration for the East Dunbartonshire seat included £2,700 worth of leaflets which were not delivered to voters.
She went on to win the seat by more than 5,000 votes from the SNP’s John Nicolson.
The Scottish Lib Dems’ campaign chair, Alex Cole Hamilton, has also been reported to prosecutors over his declaration during the 2016 Scottish Parliament elections.
Mr Cole Hamilton has not been suspended and his party insist they have "full confidence" he will be cleared of any wrongdoing.
SNP MP Pete Wishart said the Lib Dems had serious questions to answer about their spending.
“Clearly they’ve learnt nothing from the embarrassment of a police investigation into election expenditure last year. Again it appears they’ve shuffled around thousands in costs to keep below the spending threshold.
“There’s a very troubling pattern emerging here in relation to the Lib Dems’ treatment of strict electoral rules. The consequences could be serious indeed if they haven’t played by the book. Voters deserve to know what’s going on.”
But a Scottish Lib Dems spokesperson insisted the party had fully complied with electoral rules.
“All Liberal Democrat candidates follow the clear guidance they are given about election spending, and our party’s compliance team are in constant dialogue with the Electoral Commission to ensure that we are abreast of the latest advice and abide fully by all their requirements.
“All expenditure in this election was apportioned correctly and clearly identified in our election return which is now a matter of public record.
“It’s understandable that the SNP are smarting from a disappointing result, but they should accept that they were beaten in a fair fight in seats right across Scotland, and concentrate instead on the important business of running the country.”
PoliticsHome Newsletters
PoliticsHome provides the most comprehensive coverage of UK politics anywhere on the web, offering high quality original reporting and analysis: Subscribe
