Look at this:

The Conservative Party wants you to believe that the money spent sending this letter to voters in Torbay should be recorded under national spending, rather than constituency spending, as it does not name the candidate.

This is a false claim.

Electoral Commission rules are very clear. National party campaign spending “is authorised by a party to promote the party and its policies generally. For example, national newspaper adverts for the party, or leaflets explaining party policy.”

So local newspaper adverts don’t come under national spending, and neither do letters sent out to electors in a constituency, naming that constituency.

There is no conceivable reason why the Conservative Party’s leaders would not know this.

Nor does that organisation have any power to dictate how its election campaign materials are defined.

Adrian Sanders was right to raise this issue. It means many more Tory MPs could now come under investigation.

Police have been asked to investigate claims letters sent in David Cameron’s name led to a breach of election law. The former Liberal Democrat MP Adrian Sanders has demanded police take action. He said the general election mailshots last year meant the Conservatives had broken local spending limits. A Conservative Party spokesman said they did not fall under constituency spending restrictions because they did not name the party’s local candidate. The letters repeatedly referred to Torbay, telling voters how important it was for them to back the Tories in that constituency. One concluded: “The only way you can stop Ed Miliband and the SNP taking us back to square one is to vote Conservative here in Torbay.”

Source: Police asked to investigate Conservative election letters – BBC News

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