Lib Dem campaign leaflet pulled for misrepresenting election results

Liberal Democrat candidate Erin Harvey will cease distribution of a campaign leaflet after OTS News analysis revealed the leaflet contained inaccurate information.

A bar chart appearing on the Liberal Democrat leaflet presented “This year’s local election results in the new Southport constituency” as Labour receiving 36% of the vote, Liberal Democrats receiving 34% and Conservatives receiving 23%, under the title “It’s the Lib Dems or Labour here”.

In the 2024 local election, within the new Southport constituency boundary, The Liberal Democrats actually came in third based on votes cast.

Liberal Democrat Parliamentary candidate Erin Harvey commented: “We put a bar chart on a leaflet that we are delivering illustrating the vote share of each party from last month’s local elections. Unfortunately, the figures were based on the past constituency boundaries, not the new constituency boundary which excludes Ainsdale and includes part of west Lancashire. I should have checked the figures more thoroughly and it was an honest mistake.

“This was human error and as soon as we were made aware of the issue we stopped all delivery of the version of the leaflet containing that bar chart. We all make mistakes but when we do we should own them. I think it’s especially important for people in politics to do this given trust in politicians is at an all-time low. I would never deliberately mislead residents and I look forward to speaking to more people on the doorstep and hearing people’s concerns and ambitions for our area.”

OTS News has also approached the Liberal Democrats about a second election leaflet that claims: “Analysis for the most recent local elections shows that Labour and the Liberal Democrats were separated by less than 2% across the new Southport seat.”

In the 2024 local elections, the Labour and Liberal Democrats were split by over 7.5% on vote share.

This leaflet does not specifically mention the 2024 local election. OTS News has asked Erin Harvey’s campaign team what analysis the paragraph refers to.

OTS News has also asked how many homes the leaflets have been distributed to and if this second leaflet will also be withdrawn from distribution.

On Thursday, two Liberal Democrat campaigners in Harrogate were arrested on suspicion of election offences after misleading opposition information was included on a campaign leaflet. The leaflet wrongly suggested the Green Party had stood down a candidate in the local by-election. A party spokesperson said the error was related to a “printing mistake.”