Skip to main contentAccess keys help

[an error occurred while processing this directive]
BBC News
Launch consoleBBC News in video and audio
News image
Last Updated: Sunday, 7 October 2007, 14:19 GMT 15:19 UK
Watchdog's call on Plaid expenses
By Adrian Masters
BBC Wales political reporter

Plaid MPs Elfyn Llwyd, Adam Price and Hywel Williams
The local newspaper adverts explained the MPs' views on major issues
The electoral watchdog has told Plaid Cymru it should declare newspaper adverts placed by its three MPs as Welsh assembly election expenses.

The Electoral Commission said the adverts by Elfyn Llwyd, Adam Price and Hywel Williams counted as electioneering.

The local newspaper adverts were placed last April, ahead of the May poll.

The MPs say parliamentary officials had given them the go-ahead and they are confident an inquiry will clear them.

The adverts set out what the three MPs do for constituents in Meirionnydd Nant Conwy, Carmarthen East and Dinefwr, and Caernarfon, and also explain their views on major topics.

Exonerated

They state that they were paid for by the House of Commons communication allowance, which all MPs receive.

Labour MPs have complained about the timing of the move, just a week before the assembly election.

The Electoral Commission has investigated and has told Plaid that the cost of the adverts should be recorded as election expenses.

Plaid's parliamentary leader Elfyn Llwyd says he cannot talk about the matter until a separate investigation by parliament's standards commissioner has ended.

But he said the adverts were approved by House of Commons officers and he was confident the MPs would be exonerated.

VIDEO AND AUDIO NEWS
A Labour MP explains why he believes the adverts should be counted with election expenses.



SEE ALSO
Appeal against UKIP donor ruling
28 Aug 07 |  UK Politics
Labour gets most cash from donors
21 Aug 07 |  UK Politics
Halt e-voting, says election body
02 Aug 07 |  UK Politics
Tories' donations outstrip rivals
26 Feb 07 |  UK Politics

RELATED INTERNET LINKS
The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites



FEATURES, VIEWS, ANALYSIS
Has China's housing bubble burst?
How the world's oldest clove tree defied an empire
Why Royal Ballet principal Sergei Polunin quit

PRODUCTS & SERVICES

AmericasAfricaEuropeMiddle EastSouth AsiaAsia Pacific