MP asks court to be let off
David O'Leary • Published 17 Sep 2010 09:30
0 Comments
Share this
See also:
Local MP David Mundell has asked the country’s highest court to let him off following a mistake relating to his expenses.
Mundell is at present under criminal inquiry by Dumfries and Galloway Police relating to a potential error in his election expenses.
The investigation relates to a £681 advert placed in this paper, The Peeblesshire News, which was wrongly declared as being spent within the wrong election period.
If the sum had been declared within the correct period then Mr Mundell’s spending would have been tipped over the legal limit by £466.
He has now asked the Court of Session for permission to correct the error and also asked to be excused from the legal consequences of breaking electoral law.
Lord Advocate, Elish Angiolini, head of prosecutions, has asked the Court to delay any decision until police conclude their investigation into the case. Only this week officers visited the offices of the Peeblesshire News as their enquiries continue.
Election spending is split into two parts. The first part, known as the long period, ran from January 1 until parliament’s dissolution on April 12. Mr Mundell spent £29,148 out of the maximum £29,664 allowed in this period.
In the subsequent second short period, from April 13 until polling day on May 6, he spent another £11,599 out of a maximum £11,814.
The potential criminal error arose on April 30, when Mundell, who has been Scotland’s sole Tory MP since 2005, ran a half-page “Re-elect Mundell” advert but the cost was counted towards the earlier, long campaign spending period.
Breaking the limit is a criminal offence punishable by a fine of up £5,000 which could also see him expelled from Parliament. Although the returns were compiled by Mundell’s inexperienced election agent, Joe Dawson, the MP did sign a declaration stating they were “complete and accurate” to the best of his knowledge.
Mr Mundell said when the offence came to light: “I am very sorry that a mistake has been made in the completion of my election expense forms. This is solely due to human error and not any attempt to mislead.
"Such mistakes are not uncommon in election returns and there are established procedures for dealing with them. Obviously, as soon as it was drawn to my attention, I informed the Electoral Commission who have an interest in such matters.”
As the Tories sole MP in Scotland since 2005, Mr Mundell was under great pressure to retain his Dumfriesshire, Clydesdale and Tweeddale seat which he eventually did with an increased majority of 4,194 ahead of Labour’s representative, Claudia Beamish.
This article appeared in Peeblesshire News 17 Sep 10
Return to the main index, get more from this section or browse our News archives.
Peeblesshire News Poll
Are you in favour of wind farms?
This Poll is now closed.
Yes (72.7%)
No (27.3%)
