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Reform UK has denied breaking electoral law after a former member of Nigel Farage’s campaign team said the party leader had breached spending limits when he won a seat in parliament in last year’s general election.
Richard Everett, a former councillor for the rightwing party, submitted evidence to the police that some of the spending on Farage’s campaign for the seat in Clacton, Essex, had not been properly declared, according to the Daily Telegraph.
Everett submitted evidence showing the party had spent about £9,000 from national funds on the campaign in Clacton, taking spending above the £20,660 limit for each candidate’s spending in the local campaign, according to the report.
Electoral law limits spending by individual candidates’ campaigns via a formula based on the number of people registered to vote in the area. While national campaigns are separate and not subject to those local spending limits, they may not spend money on promoting individual local candidates.
Reform called the claims “inaccurate” and described Everett as a “disgruntled local councillor”. Everett had been expelled from the party for alleged misconduct, it added.
“The party denies breaking electoral law,” it said. “We look forward to clearing our name.”
Everett was a subagent on Farage’s campaign, which won him his first parliamentary seat. The Telegraph quoted Everett as saying Farage personally was “blissfully unaware” of the issues about the spending limits.
There was no immediate response to the claims from London’s Metropolitan Police, to which Everett submitted the evidence.
Everett did not respond to a request for comment.
Electoral offences are normally subject to a one-year statute of limitation, which would have expired last July. However, prosecutors can apply to have the limit waived in some circumstances.
Anna Turley, chair of the Labour party, said: “Nigel Farage needs to urgently answer serious questions about whether he broke the law and misled the public when standing for election to parliament”.
Reform has a commanding lead in the opinion polls, with its positions on migration and crime drawing voters away from both the Conservatives and Labour.
The election expenses claim comes as Reform faces a series of controversies. On Friday, the party expelled its leader on Staffordshire county council after an investigation into an X account apparently linked to him, which had posted multiple racist remarks about public figures.
Farage has been accused of repeated bigoted behaviour towards fellow pupils at London’s Dulwich College in the 1980s. He has said he was never deliberately hurtful.