Reform by-election candidate escapes £5k fine for leaflet rules breach

A letter from ‘a local pensioner’ distributed for Reform UK failed to state it had been funded and distributed by the party – in breach of election law NewsUKUK PoliticsReform by-election candidate escapes £5k fine for leaflet rules breachA letter from ‘a local pensioner’ distributed for Reform UK failed to state it had been funded and distributed by the party – in breach of election lawMillie Cooke Political Correspondent Wednesday 25 February 2026 15:15 GMTBookmarkCommentsGo to commentsBookmark popoverRemoved from bookmarksClose popoverDisdain for Labour unites Gorton and Denton ahead of crucial by-electionYour support helps us to tell the storyRead moreSupport NowFrom reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. 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We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.Your support makes all the difference.Read moreReform UK’s candidate for the upcoming Gorton and Denton by-election has escaped a fine for leaflets that failed to include the party’s imprint, after a High Court judge accepted it was the result of a printing error.A letter from “a local pensioner” distributed for Reform UKappeared to break election law because it failed to state it had been funded and distributed by the party.The letter, addressed from “concerned neighbour” Patricia Clegg, explained why she is no longer voting for Labour and has switched her vote to Nigel Farage’s party.Under the Representation of the People Act 1983, election material must include the name and address of those promoted by the document, the promoter, and the printer. A failure to do so risks a £5,000 fine and a three-year disqualification from elective office.But in a ruling handed down on Wednesday, Mr Justice Butcher said he was “satisfied” that Reform’s candidate Matt Goodwin and his election agent, Adam Rawlinson, should not be sanctioned for the rule breach and had taken “appropriate steps to put it right”.open image in galleryMatt Goodwin is standing in the Gorton and Denton by-election for Reform UK (Danny Lawson/PA Wire)It came after lawyers for Reform UK admitted that the leaflet was sent to 81,000 people before the issue was raised.GB News presenter Mr Goodwin is standing for the party in the by-election on Thursday, with Reform attempting to win a seat Labour held with more than 50 per cent of the vote in the general election. At a hearing last week, lawyers acting for him and Mr Rawlinson told the High Court that some of Mr Goodwin’s election leaflets failed to include a “statutory imprint”, which constituted “inadvertent illegal practice”.At a subsequent hearing on Wednesday, they asked the court to rule that they do not have to face a fine of up to £5,000 for what their barrister described as an “honest administrative error” caused by the company which printed the leaflets.In a statement earlier this month, the printer Reform commissioned to produce the leaflet took responsibility for the error, with a spokesperson for Hardings Print Solutions Limited saying: "Reform UK did not request or authorise the removal of the imprint. The omission arose from Hardings Printers’ production process."The party supplied artwork which correctly included the legally required imprint, and a compliant proof was produced and approved.”Meanwhile, a Reform spokesman said: “The campaign commissioned a letter from a local constituent, which was supplied to our print contractor with the full and correct legal imprint, fully compliant with election law.“Print-ready proofs were provided by the supplier and approved by the campaign. Those proofs clearly included the legal imprint in the correct form.”Delivering a verdict on Wednesday, Mr Justice Butcher said: “I am satisfied that the relevant act or omission arose from inadvertence or some other reasonable cause of a like nature, and did not arise from a want of good faith... The evidence satisfies me that during production, an error occurred due to a change of font.”The judge added: “I am satisfied that that was neither requested nor authorised by the claimants.”Adam Richardson, for Mr Goodwin and Mr Rawlinson, told the court in London that the draft versions of the leaflet sent between Mr Goodwin’s team and the printers, Hardings Print Solutions, all included the imprint and were checked “in the usual way multiple times”.He continued that “for reasons known only to themselves, Hardings decided to put on a different font at the last minut