Funding for Oldham East and Saddleworth re-run
The Speaker today postponed the prospect of a juicy election in Oldham East and Saddleworth, giving the disqualified MP Phil Woolas time to mount some kind of appeal.
People keep talking about there being a by-election in the seat, but strictly speaking it would a re-run of the contest held at the general election in May.
Nonetheless, the Electoral Commission tells me that the spending limits which apply will be those for a by-election ie. £100,000 per candidate, rather than the usual limit these days for seats in a general election of around £12,000-£13,000.
That is bad news for Labour and the Lib Dems, who have very little money. And good news for the Tories who are flush with funds and could easily find £100,000.
When a real by-election was held in 1995 in the Littleborough and Saddleworth seat (covering much of the same area) Labour spent about £500,000 pounds on their campaign, about 20 times the-then legal limit.
And their candidate, Phil Woolas, still lost.
This time the parties had better be a lot more careful when (and if) the re-run takes place. After all, parties won't want to be caught breaking the law, and face the embarrassment of a second re-run.
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I'm Michael Crick, and I'm Newsnight's political editor. My guiding rule is that in any story there's usually something the politicians would prefer the world not to know. My job is to find that out. Follow me on 
Comment number 1.
At 18:07 8th Nov 2010, JunkkMale wrote:'The Speaker today postponed the prospect of a juicy election in Oldham East and Saddleworth, giving the disqualified MP Phil Woolas time to mount some kind of appeal.'
So he did.
https://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/jameskirkup/100062830/john-bercow-sally-bercow-and-phil-woolas-draw-your-own-conclusions/
“I would like him to hold off,” Mrs Bercow told the BBC.
This blonde lady seems very influential. And pervasive. She crops up in all sorts of odd places. Considering her actual qualifications or mandate... why?
What next? Policy via Sam Cam? But then, in certain quarters that would be called propaganda.
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Comment number 2.
At 19:13 8th Nov 2010, sevenstargreen wrote:Thanks for that JunkkMale,interesting reading!
And there was me thinking that Woolas was trying to emulate Gordon in the
hang-on-to-the-bitter-end farce!
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Comment number 3.
At 11:05 9th Nov 2010, David Boothroyd wrote:There is no such thing as a 're-run election' in the sense of a class of election to a single constituency which is in some way procedurally different from a byelection. All that the word 'byelection' means is an election which does not take place as part of a general election. Just like previous byelections caused by the general election being declared void (Berwick upon Tweed 1923, Oxford 1924, Winchester 1997), the Oldham East and Saddleworth byelection will be triggered when the Clerk of the Crown issues a new writ.
I do wish the media would stop misleadingly referring to a 'rerun election' as though it was a technical term. It isn't and it is sloppy reporting to do so.
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Comment number 4.
At 11:20 9th Nov 2010, stevie wrote:surely the rich Tory party will pick up the tab for the 'poor' LibDems, I mean, isn't that what mates do?
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Comment number 5.
At 20:19 9th Nov 2010, Dave Manchester wrote:This comment was removed because the moderators found it broke the house rules. Explain.
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Comment number 6.
At 21:16 9th Nov 2010, Rolfe wrote:This is a great opportunity for the people in this byelection to show how unhappy they are with the cuts program and how it is weighted against the poor
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