Electoral Commission to be stripped of power to prosecute .....
..... after probe into Boris Johnson’s flat makeover
https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/uknew...ver/ar-AALb54d
Boris Johnson is to strip the Electoral Commission of the power to prosecute law-breaking, just weeks after it launched an investigation into his controversial flat refurbishment.
The watchdog has been threatened with curbs ever since it embarrassed senior Tory figures by fining Vote Leave for busting spending limits for the Brexit referendum.
Now ministers have announced that a new Elections Bill will remove its ability to prosecute criminal offences under electoral law – arguing it “wastes public money”*.
The watchdog launched an immediate protest, warning the move would “place a fetter on the commission which would limit its activity”.
The shake-up was condemned as a “thinly-veiled government power grab”** by the Electoral Reform Society.
Jess Garland, the Electoral Reform Society’s policy director, said:
“The government is on the one hand creating new rules for the Electoral Commission to enforce – while at the same time reducing its independence, extending political influence over what should be a neutral body. The Electoral Commission is the UK’s number one experts on Britain’s complex electoral law, so it is vital it retains the ability to raise alleged wrongdoing in the courts.”
* That's ironic coming from a government which wasted £37,000,000,000 on an ineffective Track and Trace system .....
** Indeed it is ..... BJ doesn't like his "affairs" (political or personal) being looked into ....