Nigel Farage has avoided investigation over claims his general election campaign breached electoral law last year – in part because too much time has passed since the alleged offences.
The Reform UK leader was told on Thursday that Essex police could not open an investigation because it was now time-barred, more than a year having passed since any alleged offence. The Electoral Commission, which had been asked to open a separate inquiry into other elements, said it had not identified any undeclared spending that should have been reported.
“We have assessed a report relating to an allegation around misreported expenditure by a political candidate in connection with the general election in July 2024,” Essex police said.
It said the report had been made on 5 December. “Having regard to the Representation of the People Act 1983, which states any prosecution for such an offence must commence within one year, it has been concluded that this report falls outside of the stated statutory time limit, and no investigation can take place.”
The Electoral Commission said: “We have responded to Anna Turley MP’s correspondence, which raised questions about Reform UK’s spending at the 2024 general election. After carefully considering the information presented in the letter, we did not identify any expenditure relating to Mr Farage’s election campaign in Clacton that should have been declared in Reform UK’s national expenditure.”
On Wednesday, Turley, the Labour party chair, had called on Farage to “urgently come out of hiding” and explain whether his party had spent more than the £20,660 limit for campaigning, in a letter to the Electoral Commission.
“If expenditure that ought to have been declared in Mr Farage’s return in Clacton has been included in Reform’s national spending return, or elements of national party expenditure have not been declared at all, there is a real risk that Reform’s party spending return is inaccurate or incomplete, which is a matter for the Electoral Commission,” Turley wrote.
That followed the news that a whistleblower had told the Daily Telegraph Reform had failed to declare spending on leaflets, banners, utility bills and refurbishment of a bar in its Clacton campaign office.
Sam Power, an academic at the University of Bristol and an expert in political financing, said the police, not the Electoral Commission, had the power to investigate the main allegation against Farage.
“The commission have purview over party spending, not campaign spending. So they would have to be misreporting in these returns. Turley asked them to look at whether party spending had not been declared, and [whether] Clacton spending had been reported as national spending. Given that the main allegations related to potential campaign overspend – a matter for the police – [Turley’s request] was a bit of a square peg in a round hole.”
A Reform spokesperson previously denied the allegations, saying: “The party denies breaking electoral law. We look forward to clearing our name.”
Farage has been facing multiple troubles – chief among them allegations of overt racism during his schooldays, as well as by party colleagues more recently.
On Wednesday, 26 of his peers at Dulwich college condemned him for what they described as his refusal to acknowledge his behaviour at Dulwich college and criticised him for saying their allegations about his past behaviour were politically motivated.
Reform described the allegations as a “witch-hunt” and “an attempt to discredit Reform and Nigel Farage”. “Instead of debating Reform on the substance of our ideas and policies, the leftwing media and deeply unpopular Labour party are now using 50-year-old smears in a last act of desperation. The British public see right through it,” a spokesperson said.
Farage has also been urged to sack one of his party’s mayoral candidates after it emerged he said the deputy prime minister, David Lammy, should “go home” to the Caribbean. Lammy is British.
Reform UK has been approached for comment.
