Electoral Commission says Tories committed election expenses fraud

The Conservative Party have been fined £70k by the Electoral Commission for making false spending declarations in the general election in 2015.

Specifically referring to Thanet South where Craig Mackinley went considerably over his legal spending limit to secure a victory over Nigel Farage, the Electoral Commission have said that they "cannot determine precisely" whether Mackinlay committed the fraud because of the Conservative Party's record keeping or whether he did it deliberately. They do, however, unequivocally conclude that Mackinlay and others "gain[ed] a financial advantage over opponents".

Hopefully the various police forces who have been investigating Tory election fraud will have found the evidence necessary to bring criminal charges against whoever was responsible. Their Chief Financial Officer has already been accused by the Electoral Commission of committing a number of offences and other officials are alleged to have been in on the fraud.

There could be several by-elections coming up soon ...