2015 United Kingdom general election party spending investigation

rdf:langString 2015 United Kingdom general election party spending investigation

rdf:langString The United Kingdom General Election 2015 – Party Spending Investigation was a probe involving the UK Electoral Commission, numerous police forces, and the Crown Prosecution Service into spending by political parties and candidates, primarily during the 2015 general election campaign. This co-ordinated investigation has been described as 'an unprecedented and extraordinary situation'. At national party level, the Electoral Commission fined the three largest parties for breaches of spending regulations, levying the highest fines since its foundation: £20,000 for Labour in October 2016, £20,000 for the Liberal Democrats in December 2016, and £70,000 for the Conservative Party in March 2017. The higher fine for the Conservatives reflected both the extent of the wrongdoing and 'the unreasonable uncooperative conduct by the Party'. At constituency level, related alleged breaches of spending regulations led police to begin investigations into possible criminal conduct of between 20 and 30 Conservative Party MPs. Charges were not brought against most of those investigated, but on 9 January 2019, a Conservative Party activist, Marion Little, was found guilty on two counts relating to falsifying election expenses and given a nine-month suspended sentence and £5000 fine.