Members of the community campaign group Acorn face no further action after a complaint to the police that they had broken election law by misrepresenting two candidates.
Acorn apologised on its social media accounts to Labour candidate Simon Charleton and Independent candidate Adrian Hart after the mistake in the run up to the Queen’s Park by-election last month.
The group said that Mr Charleton and Mr Hart had refused to answer questions from Acorn even though both had responded.
As a result, Sussex Police said that it had received complaint and was investigating it because misrepresenting a candidate during an election is a criminal offence.
Yesterday, Sussex Police said: “Following the recent council by-election in Brighton and Hove, Sussex Police received an allegation reporting that a possible offence, contrary to section 106 (1) of the Representation of the Peoples Act 1983, may have been committed during the campaigning leading up to the election.
“Sussex Police conducted an initial investigation to establish the exact circumstances of the report which concluded that an offence under section 106 had not been made out.
“Therefore, no further action was taken as the error was promptly corrected and publicised.
“No arrests or charges were brought in the course of the investigation.”
In a social media post before polling day on Thursday 18 September, Acorn said: “We said that he (Mr Hart) had refused to answer our questions on housing ahead of the Queen’s Park by-election and this was incorrect – he had got in touch with us but this was missed.
“We’re happy to publish Adrian Hart’s corrected stance on our three demands below and apologise again to Adrian for getting it wrong – we made a mistake and hold our hands up.
“We’re happy to say that Adrian has backed Acorn’s stances on each of the three questions and look forward to working with him if he is elected.”
The questions were
- Will you use your power to fight private developers that refuse to build affordable housing?
- Will you ensure all council-owned land is earmarked for council housing not sold to developers?
- Will you stand against the sell-off of the Freshfield Industrial Estate?
Mr Hart was a vocal campaigner against the development of the former American Express site.
He said: “I led the Scrap the Plan campaign in 2018 where our streets fought the developer plans for unaffordable housing in Edward Street.
“We lost but the community then won the lease of abandoned council land and that is now White Street Community Garden – a patch of land we were, in 2019, more than willing to hand over for genuine social housing.
“I’ve lived in the ward for 21 years. My son, now 21, born in Brighton and Hove, will never be able to afford to live in the city he was born. Fighting (and properly defining) the housing crisis is personal for my family.”
Acorn did not post on social media about Labour’s candidate Simon Charleton but did print and distribute leaflets stating he had refused to respond to the questions.
The union published its apology on Facebook, saying: “Acorn Brighton would like to apologise for a mistake we made in printed leaflets ahead of the Queen’s Park by-election in relation to our questions to Labour candidate Simon Charleton.
“We said that he had refused to answer our questions on housing and this was incorrect – he had got in touch with us but this was missed.
“We are publishing and distributing Simon Charleton’s corrected stance on our three demands and apologise again to Simon for getting it wrong.”
Mr Charleton, the Labour candidate, said: “Improving and building more social and affordable housing is central to everything I believe in for Queen’s Park.
“Locally, I supported the new housing development on the corner of Queen’s Park Road and Down Terrace when other candidates in this by-election either ignored it or hadn’t even heard of Queen’s Park at that point.
“I’m proud also of all the work the Labour council is doing to bring down the long list of overdue housing repairs we inherited from the Greens and the new neighbourhood teams to help tackle anti-social behaviour.”
Brighton Acorn said: “Acorn reached out to all candidates but obviously wires got crossed with responses.
“We set an initial deadline of Friday 29 August for responses and, after reaching out to everyone, published the responses we had received.
“We’re happy to correct the record and are pleased both Simon and Adrian have pledged to work with us.
“We’ve corrected the online posts and leaflets and look forward to holding the winner to their word.”
The Queen’s Park seat on Brighton and Hove City Council became vacant when Labour councillor Tristram Burden resigned, citing a conflict of interest in his new job as a local authority inspector at the Care Quality Commission (CQC).
Mr Charleton and Mr Hart were among the six candidates who stood in the by-election, with polling day on Thursday 18 September.
The by-election was won by the Green candidate Marina Lademacher.
Mr Charleton the houses at Queens road and Down Terrace you supported are nearly £600,000 for a three bed family home. Is this affordable housing is central to everything you believe in for Queen’s Park?
You Campaigned on bitching about the Greens, where as the Greens policy that hit home with residents of Queen’s Park
Labour has been majority council in Brighton the longest yet all problems lie with the Greens? No mention of austerity introduced by the conservatives and continued by blue Labour.
Your distractions and hypocrisy is where you lost to Cllr Lademacher.
Who made the complaint