Bracknell Tories Rapped by Electoral Commission

8.50.37pm BST (GMT +0100) Mon 25th Apr 2005

Bracknell Conservative Association has been told by the Electoral Commission to get its house in order after Lib Dems exposed they were not declaring donations correctly.

The response from the Electoral Commission on 15th April to Bracknell Lib Dems is given below:

"Thank you for your original e-mail of 20 December 2004 and your subsequent patience during the course of our inquiries.

Having been in contact with Bracknell Conservative Association, we have ascertained that there were some reportable donations made by 33 Group to the Association which were not reported to the Commission in the first instance. We are now working with the Association and Conservative Central Office to ensure that the donations are reported in the next quarterly donation report made by the Conservative party.

We consider failure to comply with the legislation a serious matter and, therefore, work closely with parties to ensure future compliance. The Commission considers from the feedback and representations we have received from all the major political parties (including the Liberal Democrats) that this approach has worked very well.

Thank you for bringing this matter to the attention of the Commission".