UK fines Conservative Party for failures in expenses reports

Published March 17, 2017

Britain's election commission has fined the ruling Conservative Party 70,000 pounds ($85,000) for failures in reporting election expenses.

The fines followed an investigation of expenses from the 2015 general election and three special elections in 2014. A dozen police forces are also looking into whether laws were broken in the 2015 contest.

The fines follow reports from Channel 4 news that the Conservatives incorrectly recorded spending on bus tours that took activists to campaign in key areas.

Commission chairman John Holmes says the failures "undermined voters' confidence in our democratic processes."

The commission said there was a "realistic prospect" that the party gained a "financial advantage" over opponents in the 2015 vote.

It is the largest fine ever imposed by the commission.

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