Police probe claims Labour bribed voters with food to support by-election candidate
Police are investigating claims Labor is trying to bribe voters with food in the upcoming Westminster by-election.
The investigation comes after video emerged of an event where attendees were told to put up a poster “if you want to be fed”.
The dinner is thought to have been held as part of Labor’s campaign to win next week’s by-elections in Gorton and Denton.
A Greater Manchester Police spokesman said: Independent: “We are aware and investigations are ongoing.”
It was reported that approximately 600 people attended the dinner in Manchester, including Labor Party deputy leader Lucy Powell.
Labor sources claimed the incident did not breach electoral law because rules against so-called ‘treatment’ still allowed for what is known as “ordinary hospitality”.
The crime is considered “treatment” if parties provide food, drink or entertainment “with the intent to corruptly influence any voter.”
A video posted online on Monday showed attendees being asked to support the Labor candidate if they were given a meal.
A man could be heard telling everyone in the room: “There must be a lot of red Angeliki posters in this room… If you want to be fed, I was told you should take one of these down.”
Angeliki Stogia became the Labor Party candidate in the by-election after Labor MP Andrew Gwynne resigned last month.
Labor is fighting to retain the seat of Gorton and Denton, which it won with more than 50 per cent of the vote in 2024. The by-election is seen as a three-way race between Labour, the Green Party’s Hannah Spencer and Nigel Farage’s Reform UK candidate, former academic Matt Goodwin.
This is seen as a major crisis for Sir Keir Starmer, who risks being sacked by his own MPs if his party loses badly.
A Green Party spokesman said: “Labour know they have blown this by-election and are desperately trying to save face by buying votes. This will not work. The people of Gorton and Denton, including the Muslim communities invited to this event, have no short-term memory on issues such as Gaza and Labor’s long-standing belief that voters are taken for granted.”
A Reform spokesman said: “In the race to the bottom with the Greens, it appears Labor is at risk of breaking the law.”
A Labor spokesman said: “This is a desperate, politically motivated move. The momentum on the doorstep is in Labor hands and will further highlight to the residents of Manchester what is at stake.”
Earlier this month, a letter from a “local pensioner” distributed on behalf of Reform UK in the by-election, which was found to have breached electoral law, was forwarded to the Electoral Commission and police.
In the letter, Patricia Clegg, a “concerned neighbour”, explained why she was no longer voting Labor and had switched her vote to Nigel Farage’s party.
But opponents said the leaflet potentially violated election law because it did not have a stamp indicating the party had distributed it.
