Elections and the law
Nominations have not even closed yet and we have already had several instances of four different criminal offences committed by people hostile to my campaign. Two of these criminal offences took the form of hostile posts to this blog.
All fall within the catetory of actions which people should not need to know are illegal to realise that they are unethical and should not take place.
Going onto someone else's land without permission to vandalise a poster is a criminal act (trespass and criminal damage). We have reported a number of instances of this to Whitehaven Police.
Under the Representation of the Peoples Act 1983 it can also be a criminal offence to make false statements about a candidate in an election. In 2007 a Labour councillor was fined £1,000 with £3,000 costs, and automatically removed from office, when she was convicted of spreading the false accusation that her Lib/Dem opponent was a paedophile.
It is also a criminal offence to make statements which purport to come from someone and don't and more serious when the person concerned is a candidate in an election.
Hence the person responsible for a string of comments on this blog which purport to describe a totally fictitious event is breaking the law. So is the person, who may or may not be the same individual, who has posted a number of comments here purporting to come from me (and which, obviously, didn't)
I have removed the posts concerned.
This sort of unethical conduct is unacceptable whoever does it and whichever party or individual is on the receiving end. And it will not be tolerated.
All fall within the catetory of actions which people should not need to know are illegal to realise that they are unethical and should not take place.
Going onto someone else's land without permission to vandalise a poster is a criminal act (trespass and criminal damage). We have reported a number of instances of this to Whitehaven Police.
Under the Representation of the Peoples Act 1983 it can also be a criminal offence to make false statements about a candidate in an election. In 2007 a Labour councillor was fined £1,000 with £3,000 costs, and automatically removed from office, when she was convicted of spreading the false accusation that her Lib/Dem opponent was a paedophile.
It is also a criminal offence to make statements which purport to come from someone and don't and more serious when the person concerned is a candidate in an election.
Hence the person responsible for a string of comments on this blog which purport to describe a totally fictitious event is breaking the law. So is the person, who may or may not be the same individual, who has posted a number of comments here purporting to come from me (and which, obviously, didn't)
I have removed the posts concerned.
This sort of unethical conduct is unacceptable whoever does it and whichever party or individual is on the receiving end. And it will not be tolerated.
