​Lib Dems criticise Royal Mail after leaflets delivered in wake of Manchester attacks

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A political party has criticised Royal Mail after it failed to deliver thousands of leaflets across Gedling.

With just two days to the election, it appears that as many as 1,800 households were not delivered the leaflet when the Liberal Democrats expected.

Initially, the party started receiving complaints that voters had been receiving the leaflet two days after the Manchester Arena terror attack, despite a national moratorium on campaigning by all parties.

The party then received word from households within another parliamentary constituency that the leaflet had been both delivered outside the constituency and during the moratorium.

Under electoral law, each party in a seat is entitled to have one leaflet, known as an electoral freepost, to every household in the constituency.

Jason Stansfield is the electoral agent for Robert Swift, who is hoping to be elected for the Liberal Democrats, and Mr Stansfield said the problem doesn't seem to be restricted to his party.

He said: "I have now received three leaflets which weren't addressed to me, two Conservative and one Labour.

"This is my first time as an electoral agent, but from speaking to other people it seems this is quite a common occurrence. We really need these leaflets to be delivered as soon as possible, so I'll be asking the Royal Mail how we can get these leaflets delivered on Wednesday.

"The fiasco has caused Gedling Lib Dems reputation damage and affected their democratic right to have their message reach every voter in the constituency.

Mr Stansfield asked the Post not to name the ward which was been affected, in order to prevent other parties attempting to capitalise on the error.

He continued: "There clearly needs to be a root and branch investigation into this, one which Royal Mail seem to be avoiding."

A total of 44,900 leaflets were supposed to be delivered, and while the exact extent of the problem is unclear, it appears at least 1,800 have not been delivered.

Royal Mail spokesperson, Morag Turnbull, said: "Royal Mail employees, like everyone else in the UK, were horrified by the events which took place in Manchester on the 22 of May. Our thoughts are with all those affected. Due to the long lead time required for election mailings some were already in our network and were delivered to the original agreed schedule.

"We are continuing to work closely with the political parties and Royal Mail is in regular contact with the agent on this matter.

"Royal Mail has legal obligations, under the Representation of People Act, to deliver election material, so long as the material meets specified criteria.

"Following an investigation we can confirm that Royal Mail did redeliver material in this constituency following the concerns raised by the candidate."