Matt Goodwin, the Reform UK candidate in the Gorton and Denton byelection, will not face sanctions for distributing leaflets without the legally required imprint, after a High Court judge accepted the omission was due to an inadvertent printing mistake.
Reform UK admitted sending approximately 81,000 leaflets to voters in the constituency, purportedly from a 'concerned neighbour', which failed to state they were funded and distributed by the party. Under the Representation of the People Act 1983, election material must include the name and address of the promoter, with breaches potentially resulting in a £5,000 fine and a three-year disqualification from elective office.
On Wednesday, the eve of the byelection, Mr Justice Butcher granted Goodwin and his election agent, Adam Rawlinson, relief from these sanctions under section 167 of the Act, which provides an exception if the breach was due to inadvertent error. The judge stated he was satisfied the omission arose from inadvertence and not from a lack of good faith.
Reform's barrister, Adam Richardson, told the court the omission was the result of an 'honest administrative error' by Hardings Print Solutions, the London-based company that printed and distributed the leaflets. He explained that proofs of the document included the imprint, but when Hardings changed the font to a larger size, the statutory imprint was removed. The judge accepted this account, noting the omission resulted from an error in the production phase due to a font change that was neither requested nor desired by the claimants.
Rawlinson stated that draft versions of the leaflet sent between Goodwin's team and Hardings all included the imprint and were checked multiple times. He said Hardings decided to use a different font at the last minute, which truncated the imprint. Hardings has publicly admitted full responsibility for the production error.
