Political leafleting row erupts after Green Party councillors escaped fines for going door to door

A political leafleting row has erupted after Green Party councillors escaped fines for going door to door during lockdown.

Ahead of the May elections the Green Party representatives in the ward of Winton, Bournemouth, Dorset, handed out postcards providing contact details for local bodies as well as information about the upcoming elections.

Sam de Reya, Assistant Chief Constable of Dorset Police, tweeted: "Can I please remind you and your team of the 'Stay Home Save Lives' message.

"There is no exemption for posting material to households and you could be breaching legislation."

Green Party Councillor Chris Rigby, who delivered the leaflets with Councillor Simon Bull, said they would follow police advice.

The pair were also criticised by local Tory councillors for “putting residents at risk”.

It comes as Sir Ed Davey, the Lib Dem leader, defended his party for continuing to carry out door-to-door leafleting during the pandemic, adding that it is "compliant with the guidance".

Sir Ed told The Andrew Marr show: "The guidance says there is an exemption for volunteer organisations, we've taken legal advice on that, and the advice we've given to all our councillors and volunteers is they need to wear a mask, they need to socially distance, they need to sanitise their hands. "We're taking all the sorts of precautions that Amazon takes, that Royal Mail takes."

During the 2019 general election the Lib Dems came under fire for delivering a deluge of leaflets throughout the campaign.

Despite the party having put climate change and environmental issues at the heart of its manifesto, many questioned the amount of paper the Lib Dems used on leaflets, letters and envelopes during the campaign.

At the time Richmond resident Nick Mead, told The Telegraph: “The amount of material received through our letterbox from the Lib Dems was surprising, considering their environmental policies.”