“We can confirm we have received a report and after assessment, informed the complainant there is no offence identified”.
Greater Manchester Police have dismissed Reform UK’s report which alleged that the Labour Party had produced a “misleading” video about its candidate Matt Goodwin.
On Wednesday, Reform reported Labour to the police over a video it shared on social media featuring Gorton and Denton by-election candidate Goodwin, which they claimed was “misleading”.
Goodwin was selected by Reform UK to stand in the Gorton and Denton by-election following the resignation of its MP Andrew Gwynne.
Following announcement of his selection, the Labour Party shared an old video of Goodwin bad-mouthing Manchester in which he said: “I was lucky enough or unfortunate enough to be in Manchester a few days ago and the energy in this room is 10 times what it was in Manchester so congratulations.”
Reform claimed the video was a “false statement of fact” and had breached the Representation of the People’s Act 1983.
However, Greater Manchester Police have dismissed the report and said that ‘no offence has been identified’.
The force said in a statement: “We can confirm we have received a report and after assessment, informed the complainant there is no offence identified”.
Reform claim that Goodwin was talking about the Tory party conference in Manchester as opposed to the actual city itself in the resurfaced clip.
Basit Mahmood is editor of Left Foot Forward
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