Labour, Liberal Democrats and Britain first fined by Electoral Commission for breaking electoral law

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Labour and the Liberal Democrats have been warned by the Electoral Commission that they must comply with electoral law after being fined for several breaches.< /p>

Four investigations by the democracy watchdog found Labor guilty of five offenses and one breach of the rules and imposed a fine of £400. Meanwhile, the Liberal Democrats were found guilty of four offenses of late declaration of donations and fined £350.

Labour was reprimanded for failing to notify a change of treasurer of the accounting unit and four donations declared late; and Clate reports on his party's accounts in the Ipswich constituency.

Starmer and Davey lead the Labor Party and the Lib Dems respectively (Getty)< /figure>

Far-right Britain First was fined £1,500 for failing to file its accounts for 2022, with the fine increased to £1,875.

Louise Edwards, the commission’s director of regulation and digital transformation, said: “The laws we enforce are there. To ensure transparency of political party finances and increase public confidence in our system, it is therefore important that parties comply with requirements and report to us in a timely manner. »

A Liberal Democrat spokesperson said: "This is an honest oversight on the part of local parties who rely largely on volunteers. We continue to offer trainings to local parties to ensure reporting deadlines are met."

A Labor Party spokesperson said: "Through our rigorous review process, we found that there had been a delay in reporting a small number of local donations

“We proactively reported these donations to the Electoral Commission as soon as we became aware of them to ensure there were no occurrences. transparency gap, and have fully cooperated with the Commission to explain...