A number of MPs have backed a petition calling on the government to increase Electoral Commission fines for breaking electoral law.

Labour MP Stephen Kinnock and Clive Lewis, and Green Party co-leader Jonathan Bartley are among those calling on the government to impose “unlimited fines” for breaking electoral law.

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The petition, which was by campaign group openDemocracy, was launched around a month ago and currently has over 100,000 signatures.

I just signed a petition for tougher penalties for parties and campaigns who break electoral laws. Add your name here: https://t.co/z1KM0n1F8h via @38_degrees — Stephen Kinnock (@SKinnock) August 21, 2019 Kinnock is chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Electoral Campaigning Transparency



The petition claims that political parties and campaigns frequently break rules by spending more than they are legally allowed to.

It also argues that the £61,000 fine for breaking spending laws during the referendum paid by the Brexit group Vote Leave, was too small a part of the campaign group’s budget. openDemocracy claims this was just 0.3% of its total budget.

The petition says:

“We must make sure fines are proportionate to how much campaigns actually spend, so they act as a real deterrent […] It can’t be right that political machines with millionaire donors can break our electoral laws with impunity”.

Pointing to the fact that a person can be fined more for “touting tickets at a football match” than for breaking electoral law, it adds: “The Electoral Commission urgently needs more power now to guard our democracy.”