Plaid outspent Labour at election

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Plaid Cymru spent more than Labour on campaigning for this year's assembly elections, new figures reveal.

Plaid's total includes nearly £16,000 spent by three of its MPs on adverts originally paid for from parliamentary funds.

But the Electoral Commission ruled that this must count as campaign spending.

The new total takes the party's election spending to £261,286, while Labour pumped £254,447 into its assembly campaign.

Publishing the details, the Electoral Commission, said it ensured there was transparency in the democratic process in Wales.

"We made it clear to Plaid that spending on advertising by three Plaid Cymru MPs should be included within the return previously submitted and are pleased the party has agreed to submit a revised return which is published today," said Kay Jenkins, head of the Electoral Commission office in Wales.

"The reporting of campaign spending by parties at the Welsh assembly elections is an integral part of ensuring full transparency in politics.

"The information provided by the parties means the public can see how much money was spend by parties during the campaign and also what they spent it on."

Mailings

A detailed breakdown of where Labour and Plaid spent shows most went on unsolicited election mailings to voters, with Labour spending £91,345 and Plaid spending £86,714.

The figures also show that Labour spent more than double on its party political broadcasts, at £49,274 compared to £22,500 for Plaid.

In October, the Electoral Commission declared that newspaper adverts placed by Elfyn Llwyd, Adam Price and Hywel Williams counted as electioneering.

Despite maintaining that they had acted "in good faith," the MPs were also found guilty by the Commons standards committee of breaching rules for placing the adverts in April, ahead of the assembly election.

Spending details of the other parties in Wales were published over the summer, with the Conservatives named as the third highest spending at £245,972.