Labour wins Peterborough

Seems there may have been dodgy practices going on at this recent by election ....

“Labour’s victory by just 683 votes over the Brexit Party in Peterborough was mired in controversy last week after The Mail on Sunday revealed claims that a convicted vote rigger was at the centre of the party’s campaign.

Cambridgeshire Police have since revealed they are investigating five complaints of electoral malpractice, including bribery.

Now election experts Democracy Volunteers have raised fresh concerns over the by-election.”

Oh dear.
Not good.
?

At the centre of which party’s campaign Urmstongran, ?
I haven’t read of this

What do you think Labour MP Jess Phillips meant by her tweet? (Sun 09-Jun-19 09:50:50)

I think she is as entitled to her opinion as I am to mine POGS .

What goes on among "Labour colleagues", is for them to sort out. If I believed Labour was normalising anti-semitism it would affect the balancing act I do before I vote. However, the policies of the parties matter more to me than their internal wrangling - which is what I see this as.

Sun 16-Jun-19 09:45:02

So does that piece sway your vote Urmstongran? I doubt it. I don't get the impression you were going to vote Labour in any circumstance although, of course, I could be wrong.

Does it sway mine? Only in as much as I imagine the opposite is true if it is in The Mail on Sunday and you are repeating it.

"Newspeak" is not enough to make an intelligent argument. Whatever you see as your political position this is becoming more and more obvious as we see the belief of previous obfuscation turning out to the opposite of what we expected.

With these attempts to narrow our thinking, I just wonder what we have to do to our country before some people realise they are being used.

If I lived in Peterborough I’d have voted for the Brexit Party.
?

Labour won but allegations abound.

Labour’s campaign Anniebach

Concerns arose after Tory claims last week that Tariq Mahmood, a convicted vote rigger, had been involved in Labour’s winning campaign.

Another rotten borough?

Thank you Urmstongran just googled him, it’s in The Times and a local Peterborough paper, five separate allegations being investigated, the man has served a prison
sentence , how stupid to have him involved in any part of
the campaign

The police will need a completely separate unit soon to look into Labour.

Oh dear!!!

There would seem to be some very sore and sorry losers from the Brexit and Tory Parties on this thread.

That unit might well find itself arresting more people for wasting police time and more arresting none Labour members than it ever does on getting anywhere on gossip and malicious speculation, UG.

Grandad1943 would that be the same as the losers of the EU referendum?

As I understand it an impartial group who observe elections (Democracy Volunteers) are also expressing doubts

Touche WadesNan well said.

Democracy Volunteers were told that some people were taking photos of their voting paper after they had voted.
They also claim that the officers had to stop people taking family members into the booth.

I read that petra the photos were after the cross had been put on the ballot paper and there is speculation now that these photos were proof of voting Labour for payment later.

It will be interesting to follow this story.

Allegations of bribery abound due to 'spotters' from Democracy seeing first hand the practice of voters taking photos after placing their cross.
Put your X in a particular box and take a photo to prove it. A nice little backhander.
Concerns re family members pressuring other relations to vote in a particular way, all huddled in the same booth.
Nasty work.

It sounds like desperation on behalf of the Labour party. Given their lack of success at the polling booth of late the result came as a surprise to many, many people. If vote rigging and malpractice HAS been at the centre of this victory for Labour they become more and more unelectable as the days go by.

I am glad it is being investigated. We should all be worried if elections are being won because someone behind the scenes is 'fixing' it.

Interesting that GG54 and others who criticised Nonnie for reporting worrying irregularities at her polling station are now getting all hot under the collar and pro democracy when the allegations are made about Labour voters. Having said that, these allegations are serious and reflect very badly on the labour party.

I do find it strange that a solicitor - which is what I seem to remember you told us you had been - puts so much trust in rumour coming from suspect sources. A bit of real evidence wouldn't go amiss. Two weeks after the initial rumour nothing has come to light. You would think someone with evidence would have accepted their thirty pieces of silver from a newspaper by now. Two weeks after the report this spurious (until proved otherwise) accusation has had no evidential backing whatsoever.

I suggest it is time to move on to the next bit of venomous posting.

Missed Gabriella's name in my post above.

I gather that the Polling staff were quick to separate any polling 'huddles' and insist on one person only per voting booth. Less responsive overvte and photo.

I find vote and photo, very very concerning. This too should be banned.

Still, being of Irish extraction, I can remember the call of earlier days of personation, which was an Irish hobby. 'Vote early, vote often'

Where did you "gather" this information from M0nica? I have seen none of the tittle tattle confirmed by anyone. Any chance of evidence or could we wait 'till some arrives? Vicious stuff, gossip, which tells us a lot about those who take part in it.

Well Said GracesGranMK3 You speak sense welcome on this thread.

Wasn't the 2015 Tory win suspect 8 polices forces investigating election expenses fraud.

In the papers GG3, The Observer, I think.

I think the stories about problems around the Peterborough poll are a lot more than just tittle tattle. Whether there was significant interference enough for the poll to be rerun I have no idea

But I think that Labour have been unconscionably careless in their approach to this byelection, considering what caused it. The chosen candidate may or may not have seemed to endorse anti-semitic comments, but they should have checked, double checked and triple checked the candidate to make absolutely sure whoever was chosen was careful, if not pedantic about checking everything they commented on. The campaign manager should also not have allowed anyone with a conviction for election fraud anywhere near Peterborough, let alone as part of the Labour election team, even as an unofficial volunteer.

Given how sensitive this byelection was because of the behaviour of the ousted MP, you would expect any party in that situation to be being very careful about everything they did around the election. Perhaps the Labour Party was and this sloppiness was typical of the way the party is run at present.