Electoral Commission de-registers Tower Hamlets First as political party

The Electoral Commission has removed Tower Hamlets First (THF), the party led by Lutfur Rahman, from the register of political parties.

The move comes after the watchdog considered the judgment issued in the High Court last week by Judge Richard Mawrey QC.

This found Rahman, who was elected mayor of Tower Hamlets Council on 22 May 2014, guilty of corrupt and illegal practices. An aide to Rahman was also found guilty of a corrupt practice. Judge Mawrey ordered the mayoral election to be re-run.

Rahman has since announced that he plans to appeal the High Court ruling, rejecting all claims of wrongdoing.

In a statement the Electoral Commission said it had told THF’s treasurer of its decision to de-register the party.

Bob Posner, Director of Party and Election Finance at the Electoral Commission, said: “Following the Court’s judgment in the Tower Hamlets election petition on 23 April, the Commission has concluded that Tower Hamlets First can no longer remain registered as a political party.

“This is because the Court’s consideration of the case made clear that the financial scheme the party was required to submit to the Commission when registering as political party had not subsequently been implemented. The Court's conclusions mean that the party’s registration is no longer valid and we have written to the party today confirming this.”

The Commission said the court’s findings that were relevant to its decision to de-register THF were that:

• the documentation supporting the party’s application to register as a political party "formed no part of the running of the party" (paragraph 273 of the judgment);
• “there was no responsible financial scheme” in place (paragraph 275).
 “By virtue of section 26 of the Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act (PPERA) a party cannot be registered unless it has adopted a scheme which set out the arrangements for regulating the financial affairs of the party for the purposes of PPERA and this has been approved in writing by the Commission,” the watchdog.

The Commission added that THF had submitted the correct paperwork to the Commission when registering the party.

“The barriers to registering as a political party are limited and the law requires only certain specific criteria to be met before we must add parties to the register,” it said.

“Parties are required to submit their constitution to the Commission and their proposed financial scheme to ensure the party can meet its legal requirements. However, compliance with a party’s constitution and financial scheme are not matters that the Commission has any regulatory role in monitoring, they are instead a matter for the party and its members.”

The Commission concluded that as a result of the court’s two findings in paragraphs 273 and 275, THF no longer had in effect an approved financial scheme as required by PPERA.

It added that its decision to de-register the party did not preclude a future application to register ‘Tower Hamlets First’.

However, it said that such an application would have to meet the requirements of PPERA, “including most particularly that the Commission will need to be satisfied that the failings identified by the Court have been addressed before processing any application”.