The Wirral Labour local election campaign team were out in force in New Brighton yesterday delivering the above leaflet…
Now I know we’re often told we should judge people by the company that they keep but we’ll put that consideration to one side as Tony seems a nice smiley chappy and was apparently former Head of Lifeguard Service.
So what’s the problem you might ask ?
There’s only one problem and that there’s no legal imprint showing name of agent, candidate or printer on the leaflet .
Again you might ask what’s the big deal?
Well for a start the Electoral Commission takes these things very seriously. Section 143 of the Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act 2000 introduced a new requirement for all election material to bear the name and address of the printer, promoter and the name and address of any person on behalf of whom material is being published (and who is not the promoter). A candidate or election agent contravening this provision is guilty of an illegal practice.
The Electoral Commission explains the purpose of the imprint requirements in Section 4.33 of its guidance for candidates and agents :
The intention of imprint requirements is to enable anyone to trace the person responsible for the material , for example in case of any complaint or query about its content .There is no requirement for an imprint address to be a home address , as long as it is somewhere the person can be contacted . It could for example, be an office address.
The Wallasey Labour Party email address on the leaflet will not suffice for this purpose as Section 4.34 states:
An email address is not acceptable as an imprint address because it is not a physical address, and it is possible to create one using false or fictitious details
The Commission stresses in its guidance that the consequences of a breach of the requirements are serious and advises that if it is believed that an offence relating to imprints has been committed this should be brought to the attention of the police. If the promoter of the material or any other person by whom the material is so published or the printer of the document commits an offence, they are liable to a fine of up to £5,000.
As a prospective councillor we’re not trying not to be too critical of Tony Jones himself here but we do question the experienced politicians who are supposed to be supporting him. Unfortunately some of these amateurs currently run and want to continue to run the council.
Mr. Jones – clearly already familiar with Wirral Council lingo- offered up in his leaflet “My 6 Pledges for New Brighton ” which includes at Number 1 :
1. I will run a positive election campaign
Perhaps he should have started with ” I will run a legal campaign”.
We understand that the matter has been reported to Wirral Council’s Returning Officer Eric Robinson . We should now expect him to report the matter to Merseyside Police or as our source writes : “Or maybe not……..”
However we ‘d advise our readers to stay tuned to Wirral Leaks for further progress on this matter and particularly about the roles and responsibilities of the Returning Officer which we think will be of particular interest !.
Wirralleaks 
G’day Lordly
Lordly Lordly Lordly you must know by now with my ridiculous rants that they are a law unto themselves.
“Highbrow” reported Wirral “Funny” Bizz knocking off about £2,000,000.00 to the cops and got a crime number.
When he asked them how things were going he was told they couldn’t speak to him WMBC were now the complainant.
How very very convenient.
I wonder My Lovely whether “The Pretend Friend” or any of his mates have ever been on that committee thingy they have with the cops?
Your picture above My Worshipful Master has one of the greatest fools in Wirral “Funny” Bizz’s history.
Won’t name names but he is looks like he is on the left wing.
He got Wirral “Funny” Bizz to do one, two or was it three business plans for a community centre in New Brighton at £3,000.00 per pop with no customers.
They were the days My L when they threw money about like a man with no arms.
Ooroo
James
I do find it bizarre My Lordsville why the police election is linked to the clowncil.
Luv you more My Leaks than the chances that Ecca The Blinking CEO will do anything about this issue.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Is there going to be a pattern emerging here?
Merseyside Police replies to a ‘very concerned’ member of the public re WBC…
“I would like to thank you for bringing this matter to our attention however I must reiterate that this is not an issue in which Merseyside Police will be getting involved.”
Staff Officer to the Chief Constable (30 June 2015)
“Your email was received in the Chief Constables Office. Merseyside Police take any criminal offences seriously and will fully investigate any allegations (theft & ‘M/side Police identified fraud’) made.”
Staff Officer to the Chief Constable (20.04.16)
“In times of austerity that local authorities are currently experiencing unfortunately necessary savings have to made were appropriate, however I am sure Wirral Council will have sought legal advice prior to the implementation of cuts.” [Policespeak or Councilspeak?]
“I would like to thank you for bringing this matter to our attention, however it is not an issue in which Merseyside Police would get involved in at this time.”
Staff Officer to the Chief Constable (26.04.16)
Any guesses re the ‘legal advice’ Wirral Council may have sought, and from whom?
Tiffany sounds a very interesting person. Welcome aboard!
Why, thank you. That is very kind.
Bloody pledges! They all do it. Everyone of them. And the bloody pledges are rarely the stuff you hope to get. Moreften than not these bloody pledges are for things that we rarely wish for.Rather than a pledge to give us all a two minute trolley dash in Lidl, they pick something bloody dull and uninteresting. Low bloody carbon emissions is a favourite isn’t it! That’s a goodun! Pledge something that you haven’t got a chance in hell of ever accomplishing or even better, being asked and required to demonstrate how bloody successful you’ve been delivering on the pledge that you promised to deliver and know that the public can never ever get a grip of your lying throat and throttle you for failing in your pledge that convinced you in the first bloody place to tippy toe into the booth and place your vote because a particular pledge was something that thrilled you and gave you hope for a better life.
Bloody pledges! Give me a pledge that’s achievable, practical and of benefit to the people. I’m not suggesting that ‘I pledge to rid us of The Syphilis’ or ‘I pledge to rid our communities of the rapid growth in local Dogging Association’, but rather small, tiny and goodly sorts of things that we can easily see and be able to say, ‘whilst his eyes were set to close together for my liking he did deliver on his pledge. I’ll vote for him again’.
How about, ‘I pledge to do the big shop for those who can’t get about’ or ‘I pledge to spend every single waking hour sweeping your streets and unblocking your drains’. That’d be something impressive. Something simple but very straightforward and relatively easy for the public to measure on the outcome of the pledge.
I mean, how do we know anymore whether we can trust their pledges? If a Candidate ever comes up my path I ask them one single question. A question that only has one answer and one which will demonstrate quite quickly their sincerity. ‘Do you masturbate’? If the fella says, ‘Never! I’d sooner die than violate myself’ then you can reasonable conclude that he’s not telling you the truth and if he could lie about pleasuring himself then how could you trust him to fulfill any of his pledges.
Course, if he answers the same question, ‘Yes frequently. More than I really should’, then chances are he’s mentally unstable, very indiscreet and incapable of delivering on his pledges because of an unnatural fixation he has on touching himself whenever he can when he should be out working for the community and fulfilling his promise to clean the streets.
It’s difficult to know isn’t it!
Sometimes you don’t need to ask the question to know the answer.
Dear Wirral Leaks. Your comment is so true.
On Merseyside and particularly in Wirral Council, and interestingly enough, Merseyside Police there appears to be a rule of 3 strikes and you’re out.
We do know most of the answers, and also know where most of the bodies are buried, and who put them there. Something I have found that doesn’t make one particularly popular?
Cllr Phil Davies, Mr Eric Robinson, Mr Surjit Tour, Joe Blott and pretty much everyone else, are desperately keen not to commit anything to a written record such as an email.
The real problem for all of them appears to be when I ask how they arrived at a particular decision. That is where accountability lies. Not necessarily in the decision itself, as we won’t all agree all the time with decisions that are taken, but the legitimate justification for any decision should not be difficult to commit to public record. Maybe asking how a decision was reached is just one step too far for ‘accountable’ Wirral Council, and its Leader.
As a result, ‘notwithstanding the irregular appearance of emerging thoughts’, I appear to be rapidly losing my pen pals ( 2 of them have never, ever replied to me – can you believe that?).
In my experience it usually takes 3 emails before they realise that you really know the answers to the questions you are asking, and then…? You guessed it…what appeared to be an informative and convivial exchange of views regarding accountability, legislative compliance, competence or corporate policy suddenly stops.
I know, I know, you really do find that hard to believe with regard to a reasonable question being asked of an ‘accountable’ local authority, such as Wirral.
It is an oxymoron (with the emphasis on which part of that word?) linking accountability and Wirral Council, but will it ever be thus?
BTW, I agree with Bobby 47 – the only pledge of any use, and that you can rely on to deliver what it promises in Wirral, is the spray polish.
Me and some pals have pledged to do a spot of spring cleaning, have the tories out on their arses, a snap election before the EU referendum…. and hopefully some of the smaller parties better-represented this time around.
Because the Electoral Commission’s ‘voting count model’ has been found not fit for purpose. As a result, in the May 2015 General Election there was (allegedly) widespread vote rigging up and down all four home countries of the UK.
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