Potential legal consequences are looming for Reform UK’s Gorton and Denton by-election candidate, after he failed to include the party’s imprint in a letter.
Matt Goodwin will face a three-hour hearing in the High Court today (25th February) to see whether his campaign letters from a ‘concerned neighbour’ breached the rules.
At the beginning of this month Goodwin’s campaign team posted a faux handwritten letter to residents from a local 74-year-old pensioner, Patricia Clegg. The letter was first reported by the Manchester Mill and can be viewed here.
Shortly after the letter was sent out, Clegg confirmed she was a member of Reform UK and had been asked to write the letter by the party. She told The Guardian: ‘I was asked to support Reform; would I be willing to do a letter and put my name to it? And I said, ‘Yeah’, and I left the rest to them.’
However, the letter did not state that it had been funded and distributed by the party. The Electoral Commission said the omission was a matter for the police, stating that failing ‘to include an imprint in candidate election material is an offence.’
Breaches of the law, which is outlined in the Representation of the People Act 1983, can result in fines up to £5,000, criminal prosecution and three-year disqualification from office.
As reported by Manchester Evening News, Goodwin’s barrister Adam Richardson said the breach was ‘limited in scope, technical in nature, and had no material impact on the election’.
‘Without relief, they face the risk of criminal prosecution, a fine, a three-year disqualification form elective office, and, if Mr Goodwin were elected, potential invalidation of the result,’ Richardson added.
Once the error was found on 6th February, Hardings Print Solution in Middlesex – the company who printed the letter – issued a public statement in which they ‘took full responsibility’ for the mistake.
According to a Reform spokesperson, the original commissioned letter included ‘full and correct legal imprint, fully compliant with election law’ but ‘an error occurred during the printing process’.
The printing company told the court an ‘internal error’ led to a font change that caused the imprint to be ‘trimmed off or omitted’.
Since the news broke, cross-party MPs have expressed their concern with Reform UK. Labour’s campaign political lead Andrew Western said: ‘Campaigns are responsible for what they put through people’s doors. Blaming a printer doesn’t remove that responsibility or excuse the failure to meet basic legal requirements. Reform should concentrate on getting the basics right.’
A Green Party spokesperson also accused Reform of ‘playing dirty’.
‘With Reform raking in millions from crypto billionaires and fossil fuel giants, you’d think they’d be able to afford to follow the law,’ they said. ‘But instead they’re playing dirty – because they know the Greens are coming for them in Gorton and Denton.’
Image: Shutterstock
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