Former MP Andrew Bridgen has questioned whether election results which saw him finish sixth of seven candidates were 'rigged'

Andrew Bridgen, former MP for North West Leicestershire
-Credit: (Image: Andrew Bridgen)


A former independent MP, who was permanently expelled from the Conservative Party after comparing the use of Covid jabs to the Holocaust, says he 'is trying to get to the bottom of whether the General Election was rigged against him'. But his speculation has been rubbished by opponents who say he lost fair and square after being mired in controversy.

And election officials also say the voting process was rigorously checked. Labour’s Amanda Hack took victory on the night, with Conservative Craig Smith coming in second.

Despite this, Mr Bridgen posted on X this week: "Was the election in North West Leicestershire rigged? Many constituents believe so." He also shared a link to an article on the The Conservative Woman website, which suggests it was 'implausible' that the MP's support had decreased from 33,811 votes in 2019 to just 1,568 on July 4.

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In the article, Mr Bridgen questions the time it took for ballot boxes to arrive at Whitwick and Coalville Leisure Centre, where the count took place, and for the counting to begin. He added: “If there was any skulduggery relating to the vote, it would have had to have been before the ballot boxes got to the leisure centre.

"I have no idea who would have been behind it. I tell constituents who ask that I’m trying to get to the bottom of it but without a whistleblower, I’m not sure I ever will.”

But North West Leicestershire District Council (NWLDC), which organised and ran the count, told LeicestershireLive the result was "democratic, valid and legitimate", with multiple safeguards in place. Election officials said neither Mr Bridgen or anyone else has made a formal complaint or presented any evidence.

Andy Barton, the council's strategic director of communities at NWLDC, said there was "no question" over the legitimacy of the results or the council's actions around the election. He added: "This includes the transfer of ballot boxes from the district's polling stations to the Whitwick and Coalville Leisure Centre, where the verification, count and final declaration took place.

"The assertions made by Mr Bridgen are unequivocally untrue. To date, Mr Bridgen has not raised his assertions with North West Leicestershire District Council directly, nor did he raise them via an official election petition within the legal timeframe. We refute in the strongest possible terms any accusation that the parliamentary election process in North West Leicestershire was anything other democratic, valid and legitimate.

"In terms of some of Mr Bridgen’s specific misunderstanding, following the closure of the polling stations at 10pm on 4 July, ballot boxes were transferred to the leisure centre within an hour, which is normal for our district. The seals on the ballot boxes were broken in the centre of the hall, in full view of all candidates and their agents, at the start of the verification process.

“Verification is the first part of an election count. It’s where we check that the number of ballot papers in each box matches the number given out at the polling station. Once we’re happy that these figures match – and that ballots haven’t been added or taken away – we start counting votes for each candidate. This second stage ‘count’ has to begin legally by 2am.”

Amanda Hack, MP for North West Leicestershire
Amanda Hack, MP for North West Leicestershire -Credit:House of Commons

Mr Bridgen's opponents have also been quick to dismiss his speculation. New MP for the area Amanda Hack told LeicestershireLive the reason there was an “absence of voting papers with a cross against [Mr Bridgen’s name]" was “simple”, adding it was because “people didn’t vote for him”.

She said: “In July, voters in North West Leicestershire were given a wide choice of candidates. I saw nothing to suggest that there was any kind of problem with the counting of ballot papers. When the result was declared it was clear that people had voted for change and that’s exactly what they will get.

“The explanation for absence of voting papers with a cross against Andrew’s name is simple. People didn’t vote for him.

“On polling day, dozens of volunteers hit the doorsteps to talk to voters on my behalf. They did an amazing job persuading and reminding people to get out and vote for change.”

Conservative candidate Craig Smith has also come out publicly against the allegations made by Mr Bridgen, branding them a “wild conspiracy theory”. Posting on his website, he said: “We all know that toward the end of his time as Member of Parliament for North West Leicestershire Andrew Bridgen, sadly, descended into something of a cesspool of conspiracy theories.

"We know that from his social media output, his increasingly erratic but predictable questions to the former Leader of the Commons, and because even his [estranged] wife told us so. So, it won’t come as any surprise whatsoever that Mr Bridgen is now questioning the validity of this year’s election result in North West Leicestershire, an election result so poor it saw him achieve only 1,568 votes and the loss of his deposit.”

He added: “Mr Bridgen would have you believe that there [was] something dastardly happening in the time it takes between polls closing and the count beginning. There [was] no such thing. It takes time to transfer sealed boxes from around the constituency.

Photo of Craig Smith
Craig Smith, the Conservative candidate for North West Leicestershire -Credit:Lee Garrett/Leicestershire Live

“The first task in any election is to ensure the seals are still in place. That check is visible to every observer. It then takes time to verify the contents of the boxes contain the same number of ballot papers as have been handed out. That check can take hours as sadly, inevitably, you always get one or two boxes where there are fewer slips as a result of voters taking their papers our of the polling station with them."

Mr Smith concluded: “The parliamentary election in North West Leicestershire was fair […] I didn’t come second because of some wild conspiracy theory. I came second because on this occasion the decent people of North West Leicestershire thought, marginally, that it would be better to have a Labour MP. It’s those same people of North West Leicestershire who had the final say on what, sadly, their former MP has descended into.”

Mr Bridgen was elected as the Conservative member for the area in 2010 before being kicked out of the party after posting on social Covid vaccines were the “biggest crime against humanity since the Holocaust”. He then briefly represented Laurence Fox’s Reclaim Party in Parliament, acting as its only sitting MP. However, he announced his departure from Reclaim in December 2023, citing a “difference in the direction of the party” as the reason.