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| The Labour Highwayman That Southampton Labour Hates Image: Southampton Independents |
... and the Electoral Commission has no way of telling whether the political party has paid it back!
Yes, it's enormous.
Yes, it's shocking.
Yes, it's scandalous.
The Electoral Commission regulates the funding of political parties.
Today, the Commission has responded to Andrew Pope's complaint about three Southampton and Portsmouth MPs accepting a total of £30,000 from a convicted violent criminal, Shere Sattar. And the central Labour Party also accepting £10,000 from the same man.
We checked the Electoral Commission's database and the register of interests of the MPs:
- Satvir Kaur, Labour MP for Southampton Test
- Stephen Morgan, Labour MP for Portsmouth South
- Amanda Martin, Labour MP for Portsmouth North
The total of £40,000 was originally reported by the Times and Independent national newspapers. And locally, the Daily Echo. Labour says it has paid it back. But where is the public evidence?
Andrew Pope Reacts
Co-founder of Southampton Independents and member of the Independent Network Andrew Pope says:
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| Andrew Pope in Millbrook, Southampton Photo: Southampton Independents |
"I cannot believe what I have just been told by the Electoral Commission today. Please see below for their response in full.
Not only can political parties accept donations from CRIMINALS, the Electoral Commission has no way of telling whether the political party has paid it back, even when the party claims that it has!
The Labour Party has made such claims - WHERE IS THE EVIDENCE? The evidence is there of the criminal's money going into their campaigns, but there is no public evidence that they have paid it back.
Are we just supposed to believe them, when they had already expelled him from the Labour Party two years before?
I don't. Do you?"
Andrew Pope's Complaint to the Electoral Commission
"Satvir Kaur has been shown by her Parliamentary register of interests to have accepted £10,000 from convicted violent criminal and Eastleigh Labour Councillor Shere Sattar. Sattar was convicted in 2022. He was expelled by the Labour Party. Yet in 2024, Kaur accepted the £10,000. It is in the Electoral Commission's database of funding. There is no evidence that she has paid the money back. There is also no evidence that the central Labour Party HQ has paid their money back. And there is also no evidence that Stephen Morgan MP nor Amanda Martin MP have paid their money back to Sattar either. Please advise whether there is any evidence of any of the £40,000 has been paid back to the criminal Sattar."
Electoral Commission Response
