Reform UK reports by-election 'family voting' concerns to police

Nigel Farage has reported allegations of "family voting" at the Gorton and Denton by-election to Greater Manchester Police and the Electoral Commission.

The Reform UK leader is urging an investigation into reports by independent election observers of "extremely high" levels of family voting.

Family voting is where a family member is seen to be influencing somebody else's vote, for example by entering the polling booth with them.

Concerns were raised by Democracy Volunteers, a group of voluntary election observers who check voting processes are being followed correctly.

The Electoral Commission said it took the claims "very seriously" and would "carefully consider" the report.

A statement from the organisation, which oversees elections in the UK, said: "We are in close contact with the returning officer and Greater Manchester Police to speedily and carefully review the concerns that have been raised and all the information available."

Greater Manchester Police said in a statement: "We can confirm a report has been made. We are in the process of reviewing this report and will provide a further update in due course."

Reform UK were beaten into second place by the Green Party by more than 4,000 votes at the by-election but Farage has claimed it was "a victory for sectarian voting and cheating".

He said: "Reform has today reported the many cases of 'family voting' to the Electoral Commission and the police.

"What was witnessed yesterday is deeply concerning and raises serious questions about the integrity of the democratic process in predominantly Muslim areas.

"If this is what was happening at polling stations just imagine the potential for coercion with postal votes.

"If action isn't taken now, then we will ensure it is after the next general election."

In a letter to the elections watchdog, Farage urged them to launch a full investigation and to work with police "with a view to prosecutions" and to "assess whether the extent of the irregularities is such that the validity of the election result may be called into question".

Earlier, the Green Party hit back at Reform's criticisms, with a spokesman saying: "This is an attempt to undermine the democratic result and is straight out of the Trump playbook.

"We've just won a historic by-election by a comfortable margin.

"We've shown the country that Greens can beat Reform, despite their big business donations."

The Conservative Party, which came a distant fourth in the by-election, have also written to the Electoral Commission to ask for a full investigation into the Democracy Volunteers' allegations.

In a letter to the watchdog, shadow communities secretary James Cleverly said: "There is clear evidence that electoral offences were committed and a blind eye was turned to corruption and criminal activity."

Family voting was effectively made illegal through the Ballot Secrecy Act 2023, which made it a criminal offence to be in or near a polling booth with another person in order to influence them to vote in a particular way.

While Tower Hamlets in east London has been the focus of multiple allegations of family voting in recent years, Democracy Volunteers has repeatedly described the issue as "widespread" across all parts of the UK in its reports.

Democracy Volunteers director John Ault issued a statement after polls had closed on Thursday, saying observers had seen "the highest levels of family voting at any election in our 10 year history of observing elections in the UK".

He said: "We rarely issue a report on the night of an election, but the data we have collected today on family voting, when compared to other recent by-elections, is extremely high.

"In the other recent Westminster parliamentary by-election in Runcorn and Helsby we saw family voting in 12% of polling stations, affecting 1% of voters.

"In Gorton and Denton, we observed family voting in 68% of polling stations, affecting 12% of those voters observed."

The group said four observers attended 22 of the 45 polling stations in the constituency, spending 30 to 45 minutes in each.

Of the 22 polling stations observed, volunteers reported potential family voting in 15.

They observed a sample of 545 individuals casting their vote and saw 32 cases of family voting in total, including nine cases in one polling station.

The official responsible for running the by-election rejected the claims, saying no reports of family voting had been made by polling station staff.

A spokesperson for the acting returning officer said polling station staff are trained to "look out for any evidence of undue influence on voters" and said "no such issues" were reported on Thursday.

They said: "If Democracy Volunteers were so concerned about alleged issues they could and should have raised them with us during polling hours so that immediate action could be taken.

"We have operated a central by-election hub which has been rapidly responding to reported issues during the day, in liaison with the police - who had a presence at every polling station - where necessary.

"It is extremely disappointing that Democracy Volunteers have waited until after polls have closed to make such claims."

Democracy Volunteers responded by saying it followed the "international best practice of not interfering with the electoral process" and issued its findings after voting closed to "ensure we did not disrupt the administration of the election".

The group signalled it was not planning to report incidents to the police, telling the BBC "it is not our job to administer the elections, purely to observe".

They added: "We saw police present in many polling stations yesterday to check whether staff were having any issues."

Labour Party chairwoman Anna Turley told BBC Newsnight reports of family voting in the Gorton and Denton by-election were "extremely worrying and concerning".

"We need to see the evidence and the report, and then make due decision about what authorities should look into this," she added.

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