ELECTORAL COMMISSION FORCED TO APOLOGISE TO SNP
THE ELECTORAL Commission has been forced into an embarrassing apology to the SNP in Angus, after it admitted mishandling a complaint made by Angus Tories.
It issued a full, public apology to the SNP after receiving a letter from the Tories about the party's finances in Angus, centred on the funding of leaflets.
The Commission had replied to the local Tories to say it was "reasonable" for them to believe a breach of the law may have occurred. This was done and publicised even before the SNP had been made aware that a complaint had been made.
Having then realised what had been done in the Commission's name, John McCormick, commissioner for Scotland, said: "There has been a mistake for which we clearly apologise. We are embarrassed that procedures were not followed."
The commission said it was reviewing the "phraseology" of the letter it sent, which had led to "misunderstandings".
And a spokesman told the Herald that an error had been made and acknowledged, and that the disclosure policy was not followed in the way that it should have been.
The Electoral Commission's problems began after it received a letter from Douglas Norrie, treasurer of the Angus Conservative Association, complaining about "the total secrecy surrounding the financial activities of the SNP in Angus".
The law states that parties and associations must annually submit their statements of account for public viewing by the Electoral Commission, if their gross turnover exceeds 25,000.
Mr Norrie alleged that the Angus SNP had not submitted statements of account despite 'appearing' to have income or expenditure over the 25,000 limit.
He went on to say that over the nine years Mr Weir has been an MP hundreds of thousands of pounds of taxpayers' money 'could' have been used for party political purposes and there is absolutely no way of knowing.
Mr Norrie told our reporter that the way the matter had been handled did not detract from the Angus Tories' questions. He said that the process had been started more than two months ago.
The Electoral Commission said there was insufficient evidence, so examples of leaflets published and printed by the SNP were sent, and the Commission then agreed to take a further interest.
Mr Norrie went on to say that the SNP conduct a large political operation in Angus, larger than the Conservatives can mount, and he finds it hard to understand how the SNP can operate within the 25,000 ceiling. He added that the Conservatives are the only party to provide audited accounts - none of the other Angus parties do.
But Mr Weir said the Tories were confusing two issues - SNP monies and his own parliamentary expenses.
He added: "The situation regarding my offices has been well documented following similar mud slinging exercise by the Tories, the most recent only last month.
"Since they seem to have collective amnesia over the issue I will reiterate, I have three offices in the constituency in Arbroath, Forfar and Montrose. I only claim rent from my Parliamentary expenses for the Arbroath office. The other two offices were procured by me at my own expense.”
“Despite the fact I have these three offices my claims for office expenses have always been on the low end of the scale as have my overall expenses.
“This must be the first time that an MP has been attacked for using his own money rather than claiming expenses!”
And the SNP's Chief Executive Peter Murrell said: “The whole thing could have been cleared up in five minutes if the Commission had bothered to get in touch with us in the first place. We are and always have been 100 per cent confident our accounts are in order and fully compliant with the rules.”
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Weather for Arbroath
Thursday 24 May 2012
Today
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Temperature: 11 C to 18 C
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