No sanctions over Reform's by-election rule breach

"I am satisfied that the relevant act or omission arose from inadvertence or some other reasonable cause of a like nature, and did not arise from a want of good faith. The evidence satisfies me that during production, an error occurred due to a change of font. I am satisfied that that was neither requested nor authorised by the claimants."

"Under the Representation of the People Act 1983, election material must include the name and address of those promoted by the document, the promoter, and the printer. Failure to do this is classed as an illegal practice, which can be punishable by a fine of up to 5,000."

"The draft versions of the leaflet sent between Goodwin's team and the printers, Hardings Print Solutions, all included the imprint and were checked in the usual way multiple times. For reasons known only to themselves, Hardings decided to put on a different font at the last minute."

Matt Goodwin, Media Reform UK's candidate in the Gorton and Denton by-election, faced potential sanctions for election leaflets that failed to include required statutory imprints. At a High Court hearing, lawyers acknowledged the breach constituted inadvertent illegal practice caused by a printing firm error. Mr Justice Butcher ruled against imposing sanctions, finding the omission arose from inadvertence rather than bad faith. The judge noted a font change occurred during production without authorization from Goodwin's team. Under the Representation of the People Act 1983, election materials must include promoter details and printer information, with violations potentially resulting in fines up to £5,000. The court accepted evidence that draft versions contained proper imprints and were checked multiple times before the printer made unauthorized changes.

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