Conservative party fined £70,000 by the Electoral Commission for false election expenses

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Conservative Party

Conservative Party fined £70,000 for false election expenses.
Former Tory treasurer reported to the police.
The results of up to 20 seats at the general election in question.
Theresa May could be forced to call snap general election.

LONDON — The Conservative party has been fined tens of thousands of pounds for making false declarations about their election expenses as the results of up to 20 seats at the last general election are now being called into question.

The Electoral Commission on Thursday fined the Conservative Party £70,000 and announced that they have reported former party treasurer Simon Day to the Metropolitan police for an alleged breach of election rules.

The fines relate to a number of seats contested by the party in 2015 as well as several by-elections in 2014.

The commission found the party's general election spending return was missing payments worth at least £104,765 while other payments worth up to £118,124 were either not reported to the commission or were incorrectly reported.

The commission said the party had undermined voters' confidence in the democratic process.

"Our investigation uncovered numerous failures by a large, well-resourced and experienced Party to ensure that accurate records of spending were maintained and that all of the Party’s spending was reported correctly," Sir John Holmes, Chair of the Electoral Commission said:

"The rules established by Parliament for political parties and their finances are there to ensure transparency and accountability. Where the rules are not followed, it undermines voters’ confidence in our democratic processes, which is why political parties need to take their responsibilities under the legislation seriously."

The Crown Prosecution Service are also looking at the results of up to 20 seats to see whether there is a case for prosecution. Files have been passed to 11 separate police authorities. The Conservative party has a majority of just 13 seats.

The wave of possible prosecutions has sparked speculation that Theresa May could be forced to call a snap election to draw a line under the row.

A Conservative party spokesperson said: "This is the first time the Party has been fined for a reporting error. We regret that and will continue to keep our internal processes under review to ensure this does not happen again."

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