Concerns raised over campaign material

Cllr Owen Thompson is to raise concerns with the Electoral Commission over some of the campaign material used in the recent Loanhead byelection.

Cllr Thompson, who won the by election with xx% of the vote, is referring a Liberal Democrat leaflet to the Electoral Commission as an example of the poor and misleading campaigning that can put many people off voting and risks damaging local democracy.

The Lib Dem leaflet, issued after postal votes had been counted claimed that only the Liberal Democrats or Labour could win. A claim which was completely unfounded and may have left many voters confused as to the position of parties in the election.

MEP Alyn Smith who campaigned with Owen offered him his support

"It is important that politics gets out of the realm of misleading voters over the options they face. We need to get above that. Local elections suffer from low turn outs and providing voters with potential misinformation so close to an election does not help to build public trust in politicians"