The Conservatives have launched a barrage of targeted Facebook adverts ahead of tomorrow's general election that make the most of a previously unnoticed loophole in electoral law to enable the party to spend a near-unlimited amount on localised messages in key target constituencies, BuzzFeed News has learned.

The party's superior online advertising efforts have already attracted substantial attention in recent weeks, with hundreds of thousands of pounds being spent pushing anti-Labour attack adverts into Facebook feeds. The majority have focused on the supposed deficiencies in Jeremy Corbyn's policies and his team.

Localised online political advertising has previously been constrained by a UK law that requires any material mentioning a local party candidate to be counted as part of strict local campaign spending limits, which can be as low as £12,000 per candidate per constituency.

However, the Conservatives have now spotted a previously underused loophole that means even adverts that mention a specific constituency – but not the local candidate or local policies – can be paid out of the national campaign budget, which can be up to £19 million.

"If it's promoting the national party and national policies, then regardless of whether it mentions the constituency name or not then it's national spend," an Electoral Commission spokesperson told BuzzFeed News, adding that the situation is different if it talks "about a candidate's views and a candidate's policies".



The end result is that Conservative paid-for Facebook ads that only appear to voters in a single targeted constituency and look remarkably like localised adverts can be legally counted as national spending.



In one example from Westminster North, obtained by BuzzFeed News, the advert repeatedly mentions "your constituency", features the words "Westminster North" in the graphic, and emphasises that local voters in the constituency could determine who gets into Downing Street.

Underlining the extent to which the advert is specifically targeted at local voters in that constituency, it also quotes an Evening Standard headline that reads "Shock surge for Labour in London".