Ms.

Jenny Watson
The Electoral Commission
3 Bunhill Row
London EC1Y 8YZ

Sent by email to pef@electoralcommission.org.uk and fax to 020 7271 0505

25th May 2011

Dear Ms. Watson,

Regarding recent media reports concerning Chris Huhne's election expenses, we have found some
further irregularities in his returns. Mr Huhne's declared expenses are only £113.75 below the limit, but we
believe that our evidence below shows that not only did the MP for Eastleigh not declare all his expenses
in the short campaign, but he was also over the limit – potentially by a large sum of money.

Due to the fact there is more than on irregularity, it is not credible that Mr Huhne did not realise when
checking and signing the return that it was complete and accurate to the best of his knowledge and belief.
We believe he has made a false declaration for the following reasons:

Undeclared Spending 1 – Letters to Electors

There are three items from Chris Huhne’s campaign on the website http://www.electionleaflets.org - two
addressed letters and one leaflet. All three say that the printer is Park Communications Ltd, and
according to the website, all three were delivered well into the ‘short campaign’:

Letter 1 - http://www.electionleaflets.org/leaflets/2021/
Letter 2 - http://www.electionleaflets.org/leaflets/2107/
Leaflet - http://www.electionleaflets.org/leaflets/2109/

But there is only one invoice for one leaflet from Park Communications in Chris Huhne’s return.

So the cost of the two addressed and colour-printed letters and their envelopes hasn’t been declared.
And these are just the ones we know about – there may be others that haven’t been put on the website.

T : 020 7837 3312 F : 070 9201 2337 E : team@sunlight-cops.org.uk

31 Offley Road, London, SW9 0LR
A not-for-profit company limited by guarantee, advocating political transparency and openness.
Undeclared Spending 2 – So-Called ‘National Expenses’

The invoices in the return claim that some of the spending is for national expenses and so Mr Huhne
doesn’t have to put it towards his total. If this is true, why are these amounts not included in the Liberal
Democrats’ national expenses return? We haven’t been able to find any of the payments Mr Huhne refers
to. We do not have copies of the leaflets in question, but you will of course be able to demand them from
Mr Huhne.

Undeclared Spending 3 – Website Costs

Mr Huhne had a new website designed for his campaign – see http://puffbox.com/2010/04/12/our-new-
site-for-libdems-chris-huhne/ . This article confirms that the website was professionally developed for the
general election campaign. Yet Mr Huhne’s expenses return claims that it, together with unspecified ‘hire
of photographs’ cost only £50 for the long campaign and £35 for the short campaign. The only invoice
supplied is from Eastleigh Liberal Democrats and not from Puffbox Ltd (invoice 2 for short campaign). It is
not possible to have a website professionally developed for that price.

Undeclared Spending 4 - Staff Costs

The return claims that staff costs were £225.90 for the whole of the ‘short campaign’ (Invoice 2 of the
return). The short campaign was about 3 weeks long. But the Eastleigh Liberal Democrat accounts for
2009 show staff costs as £10,224 for that year, which we calculate as about £200 per week. So that’s
£600 for the short campaign as a minimum - it seems likely that the salary would have gone up for 2010.
It’s simply not credible in a marginal seat in the weeks before a general election that a staff member
(described in the accounts as an organiser) would spend only a third of their time on the MP’s campaign

As you can see there are clear questions hanging over Mr Huhne's returns and we ask that a
comprehensive investigation into Chris Huhne’s election expenses is triggered immediately. Please
acknowledge receipt of this complaint by email.

Yours sincerely,

Harry Cole
The Sunlight Centre
harry@sunlight-cops.org.uk

T : 020 7837 3312 F : 070 9201 2337 E : team@sunlight-cops.org.uk

31 Offley Road, London, SW9 0LR
A not-for-profit company limited by guarantee, advocating political transparency and openness.