THE Scottish LibDems are facing questions over a potential breach of election spending rules in one of their five Holyrood seats.
The party is under pressure to explain its figures in Edinburgh Western, which was won from the SNP last month by Alex Cole-Hamilton.
Newly released files show the MSP only scraped under the legal spending limit by attributing thousands of pounds of leaflets and office costs to his party’s regional list fight in the Lothians instead of counting it toward his constituency costs.
Identical leaflets showing Cole-Hamilton were split between the regional and constituency totals, even those about specific neighbourhoods in Edinburgh Western.
A third of Cole-Hamilton’s office costs were also ascribed to the regional contest, despite the official agent for the list being based outwith the seat at party HQ.
Cole-Hamilton, 38, was a so-called “dual candidate” in the election, standing both in Edinburgh Western and as the top ranked candidate for the LibDems on the Lothians list.
Electoral Commission guidance says dual candidates must make “an honest assessment” of whether their spending promotes the constituency or regional campaign.
The Commission recently reviewed all returns from candidates who spent 95 per cent of their limit at the Westminster election and “noted a number of issues which could potentially indicate spending in excess”, including “apportionment... between national and local campaigns”.
SNP sources said Cole-Hamilton’s spending appeared so unusual the Commission should review his return too, especially as he spent more than 95 per cent of the limit.
One said: "The scale of the LibDem campaign in the seat raised some eyebrows, so there could be questions to answer here. Clearly any discrepancies need to be looked at by the authorities."
With the SNP on the backfoot in Edinburgh Western because of a financial probe into MP Michelle Thomson, the LibDems made huge efforts to regain their former seat in May.
Cole-Hamilton splashed £32,549 on his campaign, the highest spend of any candidate in Edinburgh, and 75 per cent more than SNP rival Toni Giugliano, who spent £18,593.
Third place Tory Sandy Batho spent £5858 and Labour’s Cat Headley laid out just £2313.
Cole-Hamilton’s bills accounted for 88 per cent of all LibDem spending in Edinburgh’s six seats, with the party’s other candidates averaging £924.
Legally, the campaign comprised an initial ‘long’ period from New Year to late March and a second ‘short’ period from then to polling day, each with its own spending cap.
Cole-Hamilton spent £20,730 of his £24,063 limit in the long campaign (86 per cent) and £11,819 of his £12,361 limit in the short campaign (96 per cent).
If his short campaign spending had been £543 higher, it would have broken the law.
Cole-Hamilton’s spending returns show this was avoided by attributing a huge slice of his bills to the LibDem regional campaign in the Lothians, which had a separate spending cap.
However there is little consistency in how spending was split between the two contests.
One bill of almost £1000 for 38,500 copies of the “West Edinburgh News” was attributed 61 per cent to constituency costs and 39 per cent to the regional list.
However other bills for leaflets, deliveries and stationery were split in different ratios, including 64:36, 75:25, 80:20 and 88:12.
Five leaflets with a “Focus on” specific areas of Edinburgh Western - Cramond, Corstorphine, Craigleith, Drumbrae and South Queensferry - were even split 43:57 in favour of the region.
Utility bills for Cole-Hamilton’s campaign office in Corstorphine were also split 60:30:10 between the constituency, region and local party business.
This kept £1400 off the constituency bill in the long campaign and £700 off in the short.
No other LibDem candidate in Edinburgh split their spending between the constituency and region, even though four of the five were dual candidates like Cole-Hamilton.
A former policy director at a children’s charity, Cole-Hamilton won the seat by 2,960 votes.
A LibDem spokesman said: “This was the biggest Lothian list campaign we have run for a number of years and if we had not gained Edinburgh Western from the SNP we would have won a list seat. All spending was allocated and declared properly.”
The election returns also show Labour leader Kezia Dugdale spent almost three times her SNP opponent in Edinburgh Eastern only to be trounced by 5000 votes.
Dugdale laid out £15,058 in the seat, previously held by SNP veteran Kenny MacAskill, but was thrashed by unknown Ashten Regan-Denham, who spent just £5700.
Dugdale’s bill was equivalent to £1.29 for each of the 11,673 votes she received, compared to 34p per vote for Regan-Denham, who secured 16,760 votes.
After losing the seat, Dugdale returned to parliament as a list MSP.
Her costly flop was in marked contrast to Tory leader Ruth Davidson's bargain win in Edinburgh Central.
Davidson took the seat from the SNP after starting in fourth place, spending £6,056 to win 10,399 votes, while the SNP's Alison Dickie spent £18,034 only to poll 9,789.
Daniel Johnson in Edinburgh Southern accounted for a third of Labour’s outlay in the Capital, spending £22,700 to oust SNP incumbent Jim Eadie, who spent £19,984.
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