Police say Conservative call centre investigation is of ‘scale and significance’

Police have said they are carrying out an investigation of ‘scale and significance’ into allegations made by Channel 4 News that the Conservative Party broke the law during the General Election.

Update 11:35pm: The Clwyd South Agent has been in touch (via this Facebook thread here) stating that “Neither candidate, or their respective associations had anything to do with the matter and are not being investigated by Police.”

Original report below…

The allegations centre around the use of a call centre in Neath – with Wrexham’s Andrew Atkinson and Clwyd South’s Simon Baynes named alongside several other marginal constituency Conservative candidates by Channel 4 as being beneficiaries of work taking place there. Channel 4 broadcast undercover video of the call centre operation back in June (viewable here).

Back in June we highlighted the claims made by Channel 4 minutes after they broadcast them, with Mr Atkinson and Mr Baynes both quickly denying any involvement or even awareness of the call centre in question.

The Conservative Party say they have not broken the law, and claim the company in question was used for legal market research and direct marketing.

The investigation into the allegations was confirmed in a letter from South Wales Police to Labour MP Wayne David. In the letter to Mr David, South Wales Police confirmed the investigation is being carried out by its economic crime unit, who have experience in dealing with “electoral integrity investigations”.

S Wales Police have told me their investigation of Tory Party re tel calls in Election camp with Blue Telecom is of “scale and substance”.

— Wayne David (@WayneDavid_MP) August 24, 2017

The letter states there is no timescale for an investigation because it is of “sufficient scale and significance that South Wales Police are unable to offer any specific timescale”.

It adds, “Rest assured that the officers within this department have the required specialist skills and expertise for this often challenging area of business and will, as with all investigations, act in a diligent and expeditious manner”.

Tories being investigated by Information Commissioner over possible breach of Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations 2003 🔎📞☎️🔍

— Ciaran Jenkins (@C4Ciaran) August 25, 2017

The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has also said it is “currently investigating the Conservative Party in relation to a possible breach of Regulation 21 of the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations 2003 (PECR)”.

Mr David, Labour MP for Caerphilly, said: “I am pleased that both the police and the Information Commissioner’s Office are conducting detailed investigations.

“The allegations that the Conservative Party and Blue Telecoms broke electoral law during a general election campaign are extremely serious and the public need to have confidence in our electoral process. That is fundamental to our democracy.”

A spokesman for South Wales Police said: “South Wales Police is currently reviewing information received in regards to Blue Telecoms.

“It would be inappropriate to comment further at this time.”

A Conservative spokesman said: “We are unable to comment on an on-going investigation.”

Full details of the allegations can be found via the Channel 4 News website article here, and the Guardian write up here. The Channel 4 article also has the full video of their report as well – you can view it here.