Paul has rented a property in Stoke which he is living in for the duration of the election campaign and beyond. He has made it clear that when he is Stoke Central's new MP it will continue to be his home. But Labour are claiming that because he hadn't spent the night or got furniture in the house it couldn't be his home and have made a complaint.
Paul moved into the house in Stoke on the day he submitted his nomination papers and has released a photograph showing that he spent that night in the house, sleeping on a mattress in one of the bedrooms. The council certainly won't be pro-rating his council tax to the hour he went to bed, he will be deemed to have moved in to that house that day so why should it be any different for his nomination papers? Your birthday doesn't start at the time you were born, your phone line rental doesn't start from the hour your phone is connected, your car tax isn't calculated from the minute you click the button on the DVLA website and your permanent address doesn't only become your permanent address when you've had a sofa delivered.
There is nothing in the Representation of the People Act that defines what a permanent address is for a candidate which is what the police and Electoral Commission will be interested in and Labour will know this (they've had plenty of experience of candidates breaking electoral law, after all). They are wasting police time and the Electoral Commission's time with a vexatious complaint for political gain.
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| Paul Nuttall at his house in Stoke on the day his nomination papers were submitted, courtesy of Guido |
wonkotsane is an author at Bloggers4UKIP.
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