Second Labour Councillor (Also a Parliamentary Candidate) Caught Stealing From Letterboxes – One Suspended

A Second Labour Councillor has been filmed stealing his rival's campaign literature from the letterboxes of local residents. Bournemouth Labour Councillor Tom Hayes, who is also a Parliamentary candidate, was caught by a door camera removing another party's campaign leaflet from a resident's letterbox and swapping it for his own.

BCP Conservative Council leader Phil Broadhead said "While the Conservatives across BCP have been focusing on a positive campaign with a plan for the future, it is disappointing to see others resorting to tactics such as this, especially considering this person has been selected by the Labour Party as a parliamentary candidate."

Councillor Chris Rigby, leader of the BCP Green Party, said "This is really disappointing to find out that a party would stoop to doing that and actually remove election literature. It's democratic for people to receive anything which has been put out by parties and to do so, we believe, is to break electoral laws. We are exploring that at the moment. It's frustrating to see when we are running a good campaign to have it jeopardised by a leaflet being removed not just by an activist, but Labour’s parliamentary candidate."

He added "If we had one of our activists or candidates doing this, we would look at suspending them."

A BCP council spokesman said "We have been made aware of this incident and are taking the required action."

Hayes, Labour's member of parliament candidate for Bournemouth East, is a sitting councillor for Oxford City Council and has previously stood to be an MP in Greater Manchester. He announced late last year he would be running against Bournemouth East MP, Tobias Ellwood, at the next general election. Meanwhile, another Labour 'Letterbox Raider' was caught on camera and has since been suspended by the party.

John Gillat, the incumbent Labour candidate for Heaton, Lostock and Chew Moor, had been suspended by the party after stealing and destroying literature posted by Independent Choice candidate Gordon Campbell, in an attempt to deny voters a democratic choice. In a video filmed by Mr Campbell, Mr Gillat apparently admits to having done so.

Speaking to The Bolton News Mr Campbell said "He is trying to undermine local democracy, ignoring the principles of integrity and fairness by seeking to corrupt the democratic process. It is little wonder that seven out of every ten registered voters have simply decided to give up on voting altogether when this is the type of candidate offered by one of the mainstream parties."

The video shows Mr Campbell confronting Gillatt while the pair of them are out campaigning in the ward. When accused of the theft, Mr Gillatt is heard saying "I don't deny it! You can report me to the electoral commission if you like."

Councillor Peel, Labour leader of the council, said "John is a very well-known and experienced candidate so he should have known better. I've apologised to Gordon, he’s apologised to Gordon and I’ve taken it to regional and asked that he be suspended. I can now confirm they have done that, and it shows that we do not accept this kind of behaviour from our candidates."

Gillat will, however, still appear on ballot papers on polling day but if elected he will not sit as a member of the Labour group.