Police complaints about indy postal votes now extend to Labour spin doctor Wednesday 8 October 2014 FRESH allegations of prominent pro-Union supporters appearing to have knowledge of postal vote trends before the independence referendum ballots closed have been received by police investigating possible breaches of electoral secrecy laws. Police began an investigation last Friday on the instruction of the Crown Office into claims that pro-Union campaigners acted illegally by seeing and counting postal votes ahead of polling day. It was sparked by complaints made about comments by Ruth Davidson, leader of the Scottish Conservatives, on a televised discussion that postal vote tallies had been taken in the weeks before the ballot closed at 10pm on September 18. The allegations of illegal postal vote tallies raised concerns the information may have helped inform the No campaigns decision to issue the vow of more powers for Scotland from the three main party leaders. Now police have confirmed they have received another complaint relating to separate comments made on television by John McTernan, a former Labour Party adviser on Scotland who supported Better Together. In the interview four days before the polls closed, Mr McTernan, a political columnist and former communications director for ex-Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard, said: Its important to remember that probably about a fifth of the electorate, and that will be about a quarter of the total turnout, voted already. They have voted by postal vote. Those postal votes are running very strongly towards No. So theres a whole bank of votes in. Mr McTernan, who was also director of political operations when Tony Blair was Prime Minister, told The Herald his conclusions about postal votes were just a prediction coming from my capacious brain and ability to analyse trends that are clearly there in the electorate. Writing on Twitter, Mr McTernan added: A polite warning to the cybernuts who think I stole an election. A question about postal votes gets you blocked. For being boring. And mad. Asked by The Herald how he reached his conclusions about postal votes, he said: Im a political commentator. I am able to make comment about what I understand is going to happen, because I can analyse voting patterns. I genuinely do not understand what the issue is about this. It was not a huge leap of science to say the people who voted by post were going to vote No. My prediction could have been wrong. It turned out it was right because I am good at my job. I am perfectly capable of making an intelligent informed assessment of what is going to happen in an election, and perfectly free to say it on television because there is free speech in the UK. Thats it. There is no story in SNP cybernat trolls trying to bully and defame individuals on Twitter. I am a big guy, I understand these guys dont like me. They can do what they like. I am free to make comments as a journalist and commentator and I made them. Scottish minister Humza Yousaf also made reference to indications from postal ballot sampling, saying they were positive for Yes in an interview during referendum coverage two-and-a-half hours after the ballots closed. The intelligence were getting is that in those die-hard, traditional Labour areas the Yes campaign is starting to break through quite strongly, he said. Thats initial postal ballot sampling, all the caveats thrown in, etc., etc.. The SNP said Mr Yousaf was referring to sampling of postal votes after the ballot had closed. According to Elections Scotland guidance, referendum and postal ballot agents present at the opening of postal votes must observe the requirement of secrecy. Failure to observe the rules is a criminal offence, and is punishable by up to a year in prison and/or a fine of up to £5,000. Comments edward middlemass, renfrewshir Yes he used his brain to predicted what he could see. On the other hand, his brain stopped when he opened his mouth by letting people know what he had seen before the poling had closed. He should not have been in that position to see the votes. Therefore he is guilty. John Jamieson edward middlemass, renfrewshir Those postal votes are running very strongly towards No. is not a prediction it is a factual statement. edward middlemass, renfrewshir John Jamieson Does not make one bit of difference if it was yes or no. The point I am making is simple. He should not have been allowed to see the votes. It brings into question the whole legality of the way the vote was run. The UK has to follow the same rules as any other legitimate country. By not doing that. It has opened up all the conspiracy theories. I personally think that the whole ballot was just down to the people running it being lazy. Dr Douglas McKenzie John Jamieson Methinks the gentleman protesteth too much. Andrew R M Craik, east kilbrid I have never read such a load of garbage in my life. I watched him on the Andra Neill show and to say that his conversation came from a prediction coming from my capacious brain and ability to analyse trends that are clearly there in the electorate is a complete insult to any viewers intelligence. In the case of McTernan I would say that he has a Capacious ego but to go on and say that he is good at his job just adds insult to injury. Not to be believed and of course his assertions cannot be proved. Gareth Hitchings I hope all these voting Irregularities are being noted by Scotlands leadership, there seems to have been too many to say that the ..Said Result.. Was the true result, was it organised fraud by the Unionists? One suspects if such Irregularities happened in an Eastern European country International Observers might have put a question mark over the process. Peter Dale Smith, Sheffield, Yeh and the postal vote showed a strong preference for no so they called in the heavy squad promised the possible yes voters a carte blanche if they would only vote for the continuity of the Union. But the possible yes voters were actually no voters so the whole scene went to the dogs. For those Scots who want independence, the quickest way is if you are young enough, to go for Canada, Australia, New Zealand or the USA. I would not recommend the step only because politics in the UK is going to become so exciting, you really need to be there to enjoy it. Can you imagine in 2015 Labour wins government and takes the voters back to the good old days of the sixties and seventies. People will make the effort to understand those good old days and either join the party linvolved, or establish scaffolds at the crossroads, and hang them. Well it used ;to work in the old days before you had spin doctors and politicians earning brownie points.
Posted on: Wed, 08 Oct 2014 07:56:47 +0000
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