Elections watchdog will not investigate Nigel Farage’s constituency spending

The Electoral Commission will not investigate Nigel Farage’s general election spending, the watchdog has said.

Labour had called for an investigation into the Reform UK leader’s spending in the Clacton constituency, alleging that an overspend could have breached electoral law.

This followed accusations by a former Reform councillor and member of Mr Farage’s campaign team, Richard Everett.

He suggested Reform had failed to declare spending on leaflets, banners, utility bills and the refurbishment of a bar in its Clacton campaign office, which would breach the £20,660 limit in the Essex constituency.

But the elections watchdog has now said it has not identified any spending which should have been declared by Reform UK nationally.

It comes after Essex Police said it could not investigate the allegations, as a one-year time limit on doing so had passed.

A letter from the Electoral Commission to Reform UK said: “We did not identify credible evidence of potential offences of electoral law.

“Therefore, our decision is to close our consideration of the matter following initial enquiries and take no further action.”

A spokesman for the Electoral Commission said: “We have responded to (Labour chairwoman) 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.”

Peter Harris, the election agent for Mr Farage in Clacton, said: “This was a politically motivated complaint that has been thoroughly examined and decisively dismissed.

“The facts are clear, the process has been properly followed, and there is no basis for any further allegation, inference, or repetition of these claims.”

Reform previously strongly denied breaking the law on election spending, and accused Mr Everett of being a “disgruntled former councillor” who was expelled from the party “several months ago”.