The Conservative party is being taken to court by the election watchdog amid claims that it breached spending rules.

The Electoral Commission has applied to the high court for a document and information disclosure order after party chiefs failed to provide requested details.

The legal action will lead to claims that the party and its chairman, Andrew Feldman, are dragging their feet over allegations that the Conservatives broke spending laws in last year’s general election campaign.

Nine police forces have also launched fraud investigations into claims that the Conservatives recorded the costs of activists being bussed into marginal seats as part of the national campaign rather than under individual candidates’ limits.



The commission said in a statement that the party had not fully complied with two statutory notices requiring it to produce information – providing “limited disclosure of material in response to the first notice [issued on 18 February 2016] and no material in response to the second notice [issued on 23 March 2016]” – despite being granted extensions to the original deadlines.



Bob Posner, director of the commission’s party and election finance and legal counsel, said: “If parties under investigation do not comply with our requirements for the disclosure of relevant material in reasonable time and after sufficient opportunity to do so, the commission can seek recourse through the courts.



“We are today asking the court to require the party to fully disclose the documents and information we regard as necessary to effectively progress our investigation into the party’s campaign spending returns.”



The party acknowledges that some accommodation for activists was not properly registered but insists that the bus tour was part of the national campaign organised by Conservative campaign headquarters (CCHQ) and as such did not fall to be recorded in individual constituency spending limits.



The case has led to calls for the new police and crime commissioner (PCC) for Devon and Cornwall to stand aside while she is investigated over her part in the campaign.



Alison Hernandez, who was elected last week, was the agent for Conservative candidate Kevin Foster in Torbay, one of the constituencies involved.



A Conservative party spokeswoman said: “We advised the Electoral Commission on 29 April that we would comply with their notices by 1pm today – and we will do so. There was no need for them to make this application to the high court.”