MP's team rubbishes election spend claims

Fleetwood MP Cat Smith's campaign team has rubbished claims by a political blog site that she spent thousands of pounds more than she declared in the fight to get elected.
Cat Smith.Cat Smith.
Cat Smith.

Ms Smith, shadow minister for women and equalities and a rising star in the Labour Party, is facing the allegations in relation to last year’s election campaign.

The claims are made on the Guido Fawkes blogsite, set up and overseen by blogger Paul Staines, which has predominantly targeted politicians over expenses.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Ms Smith did not wish to comment directly on the allegations.

But she referred to a statement prepared by her campaign agent, James Groves, who has given a detailed response.

Campaign expenditure rules are covered by the People’s Act 1983 and are aimed at presenting a level playing field for candidates.

Ms Smith’s team said her expenditure was £2,000 below the maximum allowed.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

The Guido Fawkes article suggested her claims were low – insinuating she actually spent more.

The blog said of her election office premises, on Lord Street, Fleetwood: “The office is listed online with an annual rent price of £8,950. Yet throughout the campaign, more than four months, Smith declared just £1,544.60 in office rent.”

And on staff, it was claimed: “In the long campaign Smith declared £692.25 in staffing costs, in the short campaign she declared another £576.88. Yet the job advert for the Fleetwood organiser stated that the salary was £22,547 per annum.

“Remarkably, Smith claims her organiser Ben Singleton spent just 12.5 per cent of his time on her general election campaign, and spent the vast majority helping the national campaign and council candidates. But during the election Singleton tweeted exclusively about Smith.”

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

In response, Mr Groves stated: “The property was rented by the party and supplied to Cat Smith’s campaign and the Wyre Borough Council candidates’ campaigns. The rent was £2,013.50 per quarter, equating to £2,228.64 over 101 days, and 50 per cent of this total was charged to Cat Smith’s campaign (the rest was charged to local candidates in Wyre).”

He said the actual amount was £1,114.32.

And he stated about the staffing claims: “Ben Singleton was employed as an organiser by Labour North West during the long campaign with 75 per cent of his time allocated to the Labour Party’s national campaign and 25 per cent to local campaigns. This was split between Cat Smith’s campaign (12.5 per cent) and local council candidates in the constituency (12.5 per cent).

“The amount was £692:25.

“The practice of dividing an organiser’s time was, and is, standard procedure.”