Nigel Farage reported to police over 'election fraud'

The Reform UK leader has reportedly been referred to the police by a former campaign member over claims of falsified expenses

Nigel Farage has been referred to the police by a former member of his campaign team over claims that he falsified election expenses.. The Reform UK leader has been accused of fraudulently reporting local campaign expenses in his constituency of Clacton-on-Sea as national party spending. Richard Everett, former Reform councillor and member of Mr Farage's local campaign team, has submitted documents to the Metropolitan Police that indicate illegally reallocated funds of around £9,000, the Telegraph reports.

The documents reportedly show that Reform spent under the legal limit of £20,660 for a candidate's general election campaign last year, but excluded costs for leaflets, banners, energy bills and a costly bar refurbishment in the Clacton campaign office. Mr Everett, a former election agent, alleged that the party had in fact exceeded the limit by around £9,000, potentially making Mr Farage and his election Peter Harris personally liable for a breach of electoral law.

Mr Everett, who was among the Essex councillors dubbed the "Farage Four" after they defected to Reform last year, said he believes Mr Farage himself was "blissfully unaware" of the overspend.

He said: "Because of my experience, I've done many of these returns myself, so I know what is meant to be on them.

"In this particular case, there was a spending limit of £20,660.72. So that's the amount you're allowed to spend on the election. In this return that Peter Harris has produced, he says that we spent £20,299.80.

I do not think that that is an accurate figure. In fact, I think the £20,660 was exceeded, and the reason why I think that is because of a number of items that were either missing on the return or wrong on the return.

He also alleged that Mr Farage had failed to declare an armoured Land Rover used in a campaign rally in Clacton as a donation. The vehicle was not registered as a donation and its hire cost also did not appear on Reform's spending return, reports suggest.

A Reform spokesperson denied that any laws had been broken and labelled Mr Everett a "disgruntled former councillor" who they claimed had been ousted from the party in August for alleged sexually inappropriately behaviour in the Clacton office, something he denies.

They said: "These inaccurate claims come from a disgruntled former councillor. The party was disgusted by his inappropriate sexual behaviour with women, and he was expelled several months ago.

"The party denies breaking electoral law. We look forward to clearing our name."