Cambs Police - no offences in 3 by-election claims

18 June 2019, 19:34 | Updated: 18 June 2019, 19:39

Police investigating five allegations of electoral fraud following the Peterborough by-election have found no offences were committed in respect of three of the claims.

Cambridgeshire Police said officers were continuing to investigate two allegations, of a breach of the privacy of the vote and of the burning of ballots.

The force said no offences were revealed in respect of one allegation of bribery and two allegations relating to postal votes.

Labour's Lisa Forbes won by 683 votes in the June 6 by-election, with Nigel Farage's Brexit Party in second place.

A Cambridgeshire Police representative said:

"I can confirm police received several reports of electoral fraud following the Peterborough by-election.

Of the five allegations reported, two incidents are currently being investigated to establish if any offences have been committed.

No arrests have been made.

Peterborough City Council and Cambridgeshire Constabulary are working closely to reduce the risk of election fraud and ensure voters have confidence in the electoral system."

Peterborough Council said it received one report of alleged bribery prior to polling day, which was referred to police and resulted in no further action.

It said another concern was received on polling day which was also referred to the police but could not be substantiated.

The council said it had seen no evidence that postal voting fraud had taken place.

Postal votes accounted for 9,898 of the 33,998 ballot papers received, and 400 of the postal votes returned were rejected due to either the signature or date of birth or both not matching council records.

The by-election was called after Peterborough's previous MP Fiona Onasanya was forced out after she was jailed for lying about a speeding offence.

Onasanya was elected as a Labour MP in 2017 with a wafer-thin majority of 607 but was suspended from the party after she was sentenced.