A would-be Dundee MP has apologised to the city’s returning officer after he didn’t declare his election expenses.
A public notice was issued by David Martin after left-winger Jim McFarlane failed to file the relevant paperwork on time.
However, after spotting the note in The Courier, the Scottish Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition (TUSC) candidate for Dundee West rushed to the City Chambers to make sure he was up to date.
Failure to provide details of election expenses could lead to criminal proceedings under the Representation of the People Act.
However, TUSC spokesman Philip Stott explained Mr McFarlane’s situation had been sorted out quickly and blamed the mix-up on human error.
He said: “The election agent got the date wrong for the returns. Jim’s handed it all in now and we’ve apologised to the returning officer.”
Mr Martin’s public notice revealed that Mr McFarlane was the final candidate to file his documentation.
It said: “Notice is hereby given that, Jim McFarlane, a candidate in Dundee West, has not submitted a Return of Election Expenses.
“All other candidates in both of the above constituencies (Dundee East and West) have submitted their returns of election expenses to me.”
Mr McFarlane, an activist and shop steward with Unison, attracted the fewest number of votes in the constituency, which was won by the SNP’s Chris Law with a majority of 17,000 over Labour’s Michael Marra.