The Tories were caught out with regard to expenditure in the 2015 general election, and by and large got away with it!
Now Channel 4 News breaks news on the latest illegality of a Government and political party that wishes to maintain power at all costs, even to the point of setting up their own call centre, and paying staff to make cold calls to voters during this year’s General Election.
Not only that, many of the calls were to people registered with the Telephone Preference Services, making it highly illegal for them to be called by the Tory Party in order to canvass their vote. This undoubted illegal act puts the Tory Party into an area of possible millions of pounds in fines to be issued if they are found to be guilty.
Channel 4 News says their analysis reveals that the vast majority of calls sampled were to numbers registered on the Telephone Preference Service (TPS).
Marketing calls to TPS numbers on behalf of political parties are prohibited by EU regulations and the Data Protection Act, unless the person called has specifically given the organisation their consent.
Blue Telecoms, a firm in Neath, South Wales, is run by Sascha Lopez. A failed Tory council candidate and supporter who has previously done work with the Party in terms of canvassing and donations and has received many lucrative contracts from them. The company has a management culture that pays staff to spy on one another and creates many disgruntled staff resulting in whistleblowing.
Unemployment and low wages is the economic backdrop in Neath and surrounding area, making it good pickings for the Tories to find desperate people happy for zero hour contracts. The call centre hired around one hundred people and for weeks, they contacted thousands of potential voters in marginal seats across the WHOLE of the UK.
The full report by Channel 4 News can be watched below:
Cold calling was also done by Blue Telecoms during the 2015 General Election, and their website boasts the work they have done for the Tories with a quote credited to a William Bailey, Conservative Party.
This latest expose of the Tory Party and Government exemplifies their arrogance and dismissal of the democratic process, helped by the apathy of the electorate. It shows a totaL abuse of power and once again it is an attempt to fiddle the General Election result in their favour.
It also puts into question the EU Referendum result too. Was cold calling used by either side of that debate? If so, did it break any laws by doing so, and were numbers on the TPS listing called too?
It remains to be seen if the Electoral Commission takes any real action to censor the Tory Party and involve the Police once again.
Source: Channel 4 News
Posted: 1st January 2017