The General Election expenses racked up by the Isle of Wight candidates have been revealed — showing one person spent more than four other candidates put together.
The biggest spender was Green Party candidate Vix Lowthion, who spent £17,770 in her bid to become the Isle of Wight’s MP.
Four other candidates — Richard Quigley (Labour), Carl Feeney (Independent Network), Karl Love (Independent) and Daryll Pitcher (Independent Brexit) — only spent £14,349 between them.
Legally, the maximum amount candidates could spend on their campaign — including adverts, leaflets, transport costs and other expenses — was £18,630.
Isle of Wight MP
Conservative Bob Seely, who won the election with 41,815 votes and was returned as the Island’s MP, spent £11,475. His expenses were covered by the party and Island supporters, who donated money via the Isle of Wight Conservative Association.
Mr Seely’s expenses included £117 for Conservative HQ field staff. It followed a court ruling that a Tory official in South Thanet had falsified election expenses in the 2015 election, racking up a £66,600 overspend in a bid to beat Nigel Farage. As a result, all Conservative candidates were required to cover ‘notional costs’ in their expenses.
Mr Seely’s donors included former Isle of Wight MP Barry Field (£4,000), an oil company in Staffordshire, Whelan Refining (£1,000) — the director of which, John Whelan is an Island resident — and the Isle of Wight Conservative Patrons’ Club (£5,000).
Largest single donation
They biggest donation made during the campaign was to Ms Lowthion, who received £10,000 from a single donor, Hans Mureck.
The Green Party paid for 106,000 leaflets and newsletters — but 10,750 were not used and remain undistributed.
Breakdown of other candidates
Mr Quigley did not receive any donations, spent less on print and online advertising than the Greens and published 10,000 leaflets. He spent £7,162.
Former Brexit Party candidate for the Isle of Wight, Peter Wiltshire, who stood down when the party decided not to field candidates in Conservative constituencies, and switched to Wakefield instead, donated £1,629 to Mr Pitcher’s Independent Brexit campaign.
Pitcher, Love and Feeney
Mr Pitcher spent £4,115 in total.
Cllr Love spent less than anyone else — just £1,353, to print 3,000 flyers and a few rosettes.
Fixed link campaigner Mr Feeney spent £2,939. He printed 80,000 leaflets.
Cost of each vote won
When comparing the number of votes received with the amount each candidate spent, Mr Seely spent 27p per vote.
He was followed by Mr Quigley (18,078 votes), who spent 39p per vote.
Ms Lowthion (11,338 votes) spent £1.56 per vote and Cllr Love (874) spent £1.54.
By far the costliest campaign per vote received Mr Pitcher’s — he spent a whopping £5.17 for each of his 795 votes.
Available to the public
The election expenses have been audited by the Isle of Wight Council’s acting returning officer, and can be viewed at County Hall by any member of the public.
Image: Images Money under CC BY 2.0
This article is from the BBC’s LDRS (Local Democracy Reporter Service) scheme, which OnTheWight is taking part in. Some alterations and additions may be been made by OnTheWight. Ed
