Labour candidate in Harrow a convicted benefits cheat

One of Labour's candidates for this year's elections to Harrow Council has been exposed as a benefits fraudster.

Yogalingam Dayanamby admitted defrauding Harrow Council out of over £800 after failing to declare the fact that he owned a second home when claiming benefits in 2007. He was convicted of fraud, tagged and given a curfew.

The local Labour Party claim not to have known about Dayanamby's past but searching for his rather distinctive name in Google turns up details of his conviction right at the top of the page, beneath his LinkedIn profile. Surely the first thing any responsible political party does is research potential candidates before adopting them to make sure they aren't known convicted criminals?

The local Tories are making the most of it, pointing out that one Labour councillor in Harrow has been caught with indecent images of children and another attempting to fraudulently cash £10k worth of cheques from a Multiple Sclerosis sufferer. However, only last year the Tory MP for Harrow East, Bob Blackman, denounced the Conservative-run council as an "exploitative regime". Harrow residents who want a change from the corrupt Tory/Labour pantomime in Harrow will be able to vote UKIP in most wards in the local elections in a few weeks.