Questions that should be put to Helen

Following on from yesterday’s coverage about Labour’s over-spending which is here and here I have a list of questions which I would put to the Prime Minister if I was a journalist:

1. Did the PM attend any meetings at which it was discussed whether the pledge card should be included as campaign expenditure, and was any other MP in attendance?

2. Did the PM approve the material which was funded out of the Labour Party Parliamentary Budget?

3. Who made the decision to not count the pledge card as campaign expenditure, despite having declared it as such in 1999 and 2002? [I now have conflicting info on whether it was included in their 1999 and 2002 returns so this may not be valid]

4. How did her party decide that an election pledge card would not qualify as campaign expenditure?

5. Did her party seek any advice from electoral authorities about whether the pledge cards should be included as campaign expenditure and if not, why not?

6. Is it correct the Electoral Commission/Chief Electoral Office told Labour before the election that their pledge cards must be included as campaign expenditure and that Labour simply decided to ignore them?

7. Her party president has said the law is unclear and needs clarifying. Why then did her Government not amend the law after the 1999 or 2002 elections as part of the traditional select committee review of the election?

8. As the Electoral Office has found the expenditure to be campaign related, will the PM