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Electoral Commission rejects call to reopen Labour Together investigation Electoral Commission rejects call to reopen Labour Together investigation
(about 1 hour later)
Watchdog says it has found ‘no evidence of any other potential offences’ at thinktank when led by Morgan McSweeneyWatchdog says it has found ‘no evidence of any other potential offences’ at thinktank when led by Morgan McSweeney
The Electoral Commission has found “no evidence of any other potential offences” and will not reopen the investigation into undeclared donations to Labour Together when it was led by Keir Starmer’s chief of staff, Morgan McSweeney, the watchdog has said. Morgan McSweeney, the prime minister’s chief of staff, will not face another investigation into undeclared donations to the Labour Together thinktank, the elections watchdog has said.
More details soon … The Electoral Commission said it had found “no evidence of any other potential offences” by the thinktank formerly led by McSweeney, which was previously fined in 2021.
The Conservatives had asked for a new inquiry, claiming leaked emails showed that McSweeney deliberately attempted to cover up the late reporting of donations as an administrative error when he ran Labour Together.
In response, Kevin Hollinrake, the Conservative chair, claimed the Electoral Commission was wrong not to investigate.
“It is clear that Morgan McSweeney deceived the Electoral Commission but has dodged a criminal offence on a technicality. This loophole won’t wash,” he said. “The Conservatives uncovered clear evidence of McSweeney’s industrial-scale cover-up of a slush fund used to install Keir Starmer as Labour leader. Despite the denials of Labour and nothing-to-see-here Keir, it is clear that the prime minister’s chief of staff still has very serious questions to answer.”
The Conservatives are now pushing for an investigation by the parliamentary standards commissioner.
Labour Together was fined £14,250 in September 2021 over late reporting of £740,000 of donations after the organisation reported itself to the Electoral Commission for failures to declare the money.
The thinktank and campaigning group, now led by the former Daily Mirror editor Alison Phillips, is closely linked to the Labour party and is regarded as loyal to Starmer and his allies.
Launched in 2015 after Labour’s election defeat under Ed Miliband, it relaunched in 2017 under the leadership of McSweeney as a vehicle for wresting control of the party from Jeremy Corbyn and persuading centrist MPs not to break away.
McSweeney left his role at Labour Together in April 2020 to become a senior aide to Starmer in opposition and then in government.
An Electoral Commission spokesperson said: “We have thoroughly reviewed this information and found no evidence of any other potential offences. We are confident that the initial determination and sanction were appropriate. We are therefore not reopening the investigation.”
The spokesperson said Labour Together’s fine had been “significant” and reflected “the seriousness of the offences determined, for which no reasonable excuse was put forward”.