I heard via Charon QC, while checking my blawg feeds between teaching freedom of the person and free movement of persons, the news that Peter Hain has resigned from the Cabinet following the Electoral […]

I’ve blogged often enough before about the Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act 2000, its requirements in relation to political donations and the offences that can be committed under it. And as I explained yesterday in Consilio’s audio […]

Iain Dale thinks Peter Hain’s in deep trouble, with the most recent revelations about donations to his deputy leadership campaign. Iain’s thinking primarily of political trouble of course, but he may also mean legal http://www.gooakley.com/ trouble: and […]

Iain Dale is quite right about the need to declare to the Electoral Commission any mortgages owed to banks etc.. Section 71F of PPERA makes that clear. Here’s the Electoral Commission’s guidance; paragraphs 3.8-3.10, on page 12, are […]

As I’ve already said in an earlier post, some people in discussing donorgate, or donationsgate, of Abrahamsgate or whatever it is, are inclined to wild talk about whether the police might be investigating Theft Act offences like theft and […]

Some people might be rashly suggesting offences other than those under PPERA might have been committed – but I think that’s wild talk, to be frank.

Some might suggest it’s false accounting – but to charge that under

Schedule 20 to PPERA lays down the penalties for offences relating to party donations: it’s a handy read-across guide.

In respect of each of the offences set out in my post yesterday, the maximum penalties are:

I blogged this a couple of times yesterday, but I thought it might be a good idea to summarise the position as regards what offences might potentially have been committed under the Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act 2000 as […]

I’ve been having another think about donationsgate, specifically thinking about potential offences in relation to the Harriet Harman donation.

If Janet Kidd failed to tell Harriet Harman’s team the money was really from Abrahams, then she may have committed […]

David Boothroyd in his comment on my last post corrected me on a couple of factual points, as I pointed out in the update. As registered treasurer, Peter Watt (not Watts – apologies) can’t have committed offences under section […]