Green Party candidate says Royal Mail cost him his election deposit

[TrueBlueTerrier]

Green Party candidate says Royal Mail cost him his £500 election deposit

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A politician has claimed a postal blunder may have cost him his £500 General Election deposit.

Green Party candidate for Huddersfield, Clr Andrew Cooper, says very few people received his mailshots.

He believes Royal Mail failed to deliver thousands of the 50,000 leaflets the party paid for.

But a spokesperson for Royal Mail has hit back and claimed they only received 40,000 and delivered them all.

Clr Cooper came third at the June 8 vote with 1,395 votes – 3.2% of all votes cast in the constituency.

His result was 3.7% down on his 2015 performance causing him to miss the “magic 5%” target needed to receive a refund on his £500 election deposit.

Candidates are required to put up the deposit to take part in a General Election in a bid to deter tiny, random parties and candidates from wasting government resources with vanity ballot appearances.

Clr Cooper said his campaign had spent £700 on printing the leaflets but he says most have never hit the doormats of Huddersfield homes.

Postage on political flyers is provided free of charge.

“I’ve had about a dozen contacts all over Huddersfield say they’ve not received anything,” he said.

“I’m not saying none did but an awful lot didn’t.

“This lack of literature appears to be widespread and I have had residents in Edgerton, Marsh, Armitage Bridge, Newsome and Berry Brow tell me they received nothing from us during the election.”

Royal Mail disputed Clr Cooper’s claim and told the Examiner it delivered every last one of the 40,000 it received.

Royal Mail spokesperson Morag Turnbull said: “Royal Mail has investigated this matter fully.

“We advised the Green Party prior to the General Election that there are 48,200 postal addresses in this constituency.

“We can confirm that we only received a total of 40,000 election leaflets for this area from the Green Party and all were successfully delivered before polling day.”

Clr Cooper said he questioned how that could be right.

He added: “I would very much like to know where they have delivered those leaflets to because it would appear that the number of areas that people did not receive one is quite widespread.

“So I’m concerned about their claim.”

The Newsome councillor said the lack of leaflets had also damaged his reputation.

“There will be a group of people out there who think we couldn’t be bothered,” he added. “But we were.

“We were financially strapped but we still did it.

“We turned up to contest this seat and play a full part in the election, unlike the Conservatives who didn’t appear at any hustings.

“There’s also the waste involved, getting leaflets produced which obviously never reached the households they were intended for.

“Maybe if my literature had gone out I would have got a few more votes and reached the magic 5%.

“But the election was a very polarised affair. I know lots of people who normally vote Green voted Labour on this occasion.”

[rubberbond]

You lost,get over it. No one takes you seriously,especially after the mess you made of running Brighton council.