Police say no reports of electoral offences in by-election

Greater Manchester Police have told the BBC they have received "no reports" of electoral offences at the Gorton and Denton by-election.

It comes after election observers raised concerns about "extremely high" levels of family voting.

Family voting is where a family member is seen to be influencing somebody else's vote, for example by entering the polling booth with them.

Concerns were raised by Democracy Volunteers, a group of voluntary election observers who check voting processes are being followed correctly.

The by-election's acting returning officer said polling station staff were trained to look for undue influence on voters and "no such issues" had been reported during polling hours.

Family voting was effectively made illegal through the Ballot Secrecy Act 2023, which made it a criminal offence to be in or near a polling booth with another person in order to influence them to vote in a particular way.

Democracy Volunteers director John Ault issued a statement after polls had closed on Thursday, saying observers had seen "the highest levels of family voting at any election in our 10 year history of observing elections in the UK".

He said: "We rarely issue a report on the night of an election, but the data we have collected today on family voting, when compared to other recent by-elections, is extremely high.

"In the other recent Westminster parliamentary by-election in Runcorn and Helsby we saw family voting in 12% of polling stations, affecting 1% of voters.

"In Gorton and Denton, we observed family voting in 68% of polling stations, affecting 12% of those voters observed."

The group said four observers attended 22 of the 45 polling stations in the constituency, spending 30 to 45 minutes in each.

Of the 22 polling stations observed, volunteers reported potential family voting in 15.

They observed a sample of 545 individuals casting their vote and saw 32 cases of family voting in total, including nine cases in one polling station.

The officer responsible for running the by-election rejected the claims, saying no reports of family voting had been made by polling station staff.

A spokesperson for the acting returning officer said: "Polling station staff are trained to look out for any evidence of undue influence on voters.

"No such issues have been reported today.

"If Democracy Volunteers were so concerned about alleged issues they could and should have raised them with us during polling hours so that immediate action could be taken.

"We have operated a central by-election hub which has been rapidly responding to reported issues during the day, in liaison with the police - who had a presence at every polling station - where necessary.

"It is extremely disappointing that Democracy Volunteers have waited until after polls have closed to make such claims."

A spokesperson for the Electoral Commission, which oversees elections in the UK, said: "We are aware of the report. Electoral offences are a matter for the police. We encourage anyone who believes an offence has occurred to report it to the police.

"The statutory electoral observer Code of Practice says that electoral observers may bring potential irregularities, fraud or significant problems to the attention of elected officials on the spot."

Reform UK leader Nigel Farage said in an X post that reports of high levels of family voting were "deeply concerning" and raised questions "about the integrity of the democratic process in predominantly Muslim areas".

His party's chairman David Bull told BBC Radio 4 family voting was "illegal" but when asked if it made a difference to the election result, he said "probably not".

The Green Party hit back at Reform's critcisms, with a spokesman saying: "This is an attempt to undermine the democratic result and is straight out of the Trump playbook.

"We've just won a historic by-election by a comfortable margin.

"We've shown the country that Greens can beat Reform, despite their big business donations."

Labour Party chair Anna Turley told BBC Newsnight reports of family voting in the Gorton and Denton by-election are "extremely worrying and concerning".

"That's not what we want to see in our democracy," she said.

"So obviously we need to see the evidence and the report, and then make due decision about what authorities should look into this."

Green Party leader Zack Polanski told BBC Breakfast if any wrongdoing had happened there should be an investigation, but pointed to Manchester City Council's statement saying no issues had been reported.

Reform UK leader Nigel Farage said the claims raised questions "about the integrity of the democratic process in predominantly Muslim areas", saying the election was "a victory for sectarian voting and cheating".

The party's chair David Bull acknowledged the practice probably did not affect the final result but "we need to ensure this doesn't happen".

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