Scottish Greens hit with fine over late return of party accounts

The party were handed a £2,300 sanction after returning a spending breakdown over a month later than agreed.

Scottish Greens hit with £2,300 fine over late return of party accounts PA Media

The Scottish Greens have been handed a four-figure fine for late delivery of their accounts to the electoral watchdog.

The party will receive a £2,300 penalty after paperwork was submitted in August last year more than six weeks after the agreed date in July.

Regulators from the Electoral Commission said the sanction had been imposed “in light of previous non-compliance” with previous measures.

The Greens, co-led by Patrick Harvie and Lorna Slater, has until July 13 to pay the balance.

An Electoral Commission statement read: “The party’s 2020 annual statement of accounts was delivered late.

“A sanction was appropriate in this case in line with our enforcement policy.”

The party had previously been handed a £200 fine in 2021 over a failure to return a campaign spending breakdown for the 2019 general election and a £5,349 sanction in 2020 for a breach of rules on the disclosure of donations.

A Scottish Greens spokesperson said: “We regret that due to documentation from a third party being received late our statement of accounts for 2020 was not submitted on time.

“Our accounts received a clean audit and we are confident the problem will not reoccur.”

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