No criminal probe into Labour's Falkirk candidate selection

 
Grasp the nettle: Ed Miliband delivering his speech on reforming the union link in London yesterday
PA
Joseph Watts7 September 2013
WEST END FINAL

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The police will not launch a criminal investigation into claims a union tried to fix the selection of a Labour candidate for the Commons seat of Falkirk.

Labour had handed documents to police amid claims that Unite, the party’s biggest trade union backer, had sought to swing the contest by cramming the constituency with new members.

But police said today there was not enough evidence to support a criminal investigation. A spokesman said: “Following a comprehensive review of all material submitted, Police Scotland has concluded there are insufficient grounds to support a criminal investigation at this time.”

The row over the selection of a candidate to contest the seat in 2015, currently held by Eric Joyce, has sparked the biggest crisis for Labour since Ed Miliband took over as leader of the party. The vacancy emerged when Mr Joyce was kicked out of the Labour Party after committing an assault in a House of Commons bar.

Earlier this year Unite was accused of bending rules by paying for people to join Falkirk Labour Party to give its preferred candidate a better chance of being selected. The union has repeatedly denied wrongdoing.

A Unite spokesman said: “Unite welcomes the police decision not to investigate the Falkirk selection, which appears to be based on an overdue application of common sense to the situation. Unite reaffirms what it has always said — the union broke neither Labour Party rules nor the law in Falkirk.”

Despite avoiding the stigma of a criminal investigation, Mr Miliband now faces having to undertake disciplinary action against party members involved while the country looks on. A party source told the Standard: “We will now proceed with disciplinary action as soon as possible. Our own internal investigation found there were serious concerns about membership practices.”

The Falkirk incident sparked a major scandal with the Met being asked to investigate allegations of union vote-rigging in Labour’s Ilford North parliamentary seat. Alarm bells have also been sounded over contests in Lewisham Deptford and Hornsey and Wood Green.

Labour is now reviewing how it selects candidates for European elections after party members in London claimed the process was a union “stitch-up”.

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