Matt Goodwin, Reform UK’s candidate in the Gorton and Denton byelection, will face no sanction for leaflets that omitted the required party imprint after a High Court judge accepted the omission was due to an inadvertent printing mistake.
Reform UK admitted sending around 81,000 leaflets to voters from a “concerned neighbour” without the statutory imprint required under the Representation of the People Act 1983. The law mandates election material must include the name and address of the promoter, with breaches risking a £5,000 fine and three-year disqualification from elective office.
On the eve of the byelection, Mr Justice Butcher granted Goodwin and his election agent Adam Rawlinson relief under section 167 of the Act, which allows exceptions for inadvertent errors. The judge stated he was satisfied the omission arose from inadvertence and not from a want of good faith.
Reform’s barrister, Adam Richardson, told the court the error occurred when Hardings Print Solutions, the company that printed and distributed the leaflets, changed the font at the last minute, causing the imprint to be removed from the final version. Proofs had included the imprint, and the judge accepted that the change was neither requested nor desired by the claimants.
Rawlinson told the court that draft versions of the leaflet, which included an open letter from 74-year-old Patricia Clegg switching support from Labour to Reform, had all contained the imprint and were checked multiple times. He said Hardings had “publicly admitted full responsibility” for the production error.
