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Introduction
This site has been created to help gather together sources casting light on allegations regarding the Conservative Party spending return for the 2015 General Election (and three by-elections in 2014) and make it more accessible to the public at large.
On the 18th February 2016, in response to
Channel 4's endeavours, the Electoral Commission launched
their investigation and on the 28th April 2016 followed up with
a statement confirming it had
"requested that the Crown (CPS) Prosecution Service and the police consider applying for an extension to the time limit available to pursue criminal prosecutions."
The Time
Time's Up... mostly as a few police authorities have a little extra time, probably due to the time it took to apply for extensions, in which to get their files together.
For some inexplicable reason if you cheat at politics and no-one notices for a whole year then you get away with it. Luckily someone noticed, the CPS started an investigation and several Police Authorities applied for an
"extension to the time limit available to pursue criminal prosecutions."Time's up on 7th May 2017. Hopefully, the reason it's all quiet out there is because the various Police Authorities are busily preparing iron-clad cases, however one
already dropped case doesn't give much cause for hope.
The Background
In May 2014, attempting to steal a little UKIP limelight,
David Cameron promised that
- if The Conservatives won the next General Election
- if they had a majority
- if he was still leader
...he'd try to reform the EU and then hold an EU referendum before the end of 2017. Very few took him seriously.
Later in 2014 one resignation and two defections to UKIP saw the Conservatives contesting three unexpected by-elections that had Cameron's leadership teetering on a ledge.
Right up to the day when the General Election votes rolled in, Cameron's EU promise was
widely accepted as the impossible dream.
Perhaps it was.
The Law
The
Electoral Commission state -
"There are rules on how much candidates can spend on their campaigns and where they receive their funding from." plus
"There are two types of spending by or on behalf of parties at certain elections:
- Candidate spending
- Party campaign spending
Candidate spending is when a candidate authorises campaigning to promote them at an election. For example, leaflets, billboard advertising, websites and campaign staff costs.
Party campaign spending is authorised by a party to promote the party and its policies generally. For example, national newspaper adverts for the party, or leaflets explaining party policy. It also includes spending on promoting candidates at elections where the party nominates a list of candidates for a region, rather than individual candidates for local areas.
The Reason
It's all about Legitimacy. The Conservatives won the 2015 General Election returning 331 MPs which gave them a 12 seat majority.
If just 6 winning MPs independently broke the law to win their seats this would reduce the number of Conservatives in Westminster to the magic 325 and they'd no longer have a majority.
However the very real possibility of a Party wide conspiracy, systematically cheating to win, has attracted the Electoral Commission's eye - resulting in them requesting the involvement of various Police Authorities and the Crown (CPS) Prosecution Service - and, if proven, signals the end of Westminster as we know it.
Just imagine if everything the Conservative Gov't has enacted since 2015 turns out to have no democratic legitimacy.
The Action
Despite this being probably the most important news story in a generation, the silence is deafening. This resource was created to aid investigation and has been opened to you in the hope that some of you will be encouraged to look a little deeper.
The information here is by no means definitive, it's just the tip of the iceberg. Look around, take nothing for granted, share what you find and add to the data to help continue the investigation.