Tories Top Election Expenses League

12.00.00pm UTC (GMT +0000) Wed 22nd Jun 2005

Somewhat unsurprisingly, the Tories have topped the pay league for election expenses in Ashford.

What is perhaps more surprising is quite how far ahead of the rest their outlay was. At £10,257 the Tories managed to spend more than Labour, the Liberal Democrats and the Greens PUT TOGETHER.

Ashford Liberal Democrat's spend of £4,015, our largest in any Ashford election ever, was still kept down thanks to the tremendous contributions of numerous volunteers. Both of the 'big parties' (and UKIP also) needed to pay people to get work done.

Speaking after the release of the figures, Ashford Liberal Democrats spokesman, Chris Took said "I was delighted by the commitment and vigour that our supporters showed throughout the campaign. The Tory spend clearly highlights the challenge that we are up against. It would be wonderful to spend over 10 grand and have a level playing field, perhaps with enough fund raising it will be possible in four or five years."

The figures in full

Tory: £10,257

Labour: £5,480

Ashford Liberal Democrats: £4,015

UKIP: £2,265

Green: £691