Labour fined £20,000 over Miliband's '˜EdStone' pledges

The so-called 'EdStone' stone tablet bearing Ed Miliband's 2015 general election pledges has helped land Labour a £20,000 fine from the electoral spending watchdog.

Former Labour leader, Ed Miliband. Picture: JP Licence

Labour omitted two payments totalling £7,614 relating to the eight-foot block of stone from its election campaign spending return, a breach of the rules which sparked an Electoral Commission investigation.

The party was then ordered to review all of its election expenditure and the commission’s subsequent analysis has concluded it missed 74 payments totalling £123,748, as well as 33 separate invoices totalling £34,392 from its spending return.

Labour treasurer Iain McNicol was found to have committed two offences under the Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act 2000 (PPERA) and the party has now been fined £20,000.

It is the largest fine the Electoral Commission has imposed since beginning operations in 2001.

The commission’s investigation into Labour’s 2015 general election campaign spending return was opened on January 22 following allegations that it may have been incomplete.

A Labour Party spokeswoman said: “The party regrets these administrative errors.”