Former UKip MP charged with electoral fraud

Former Conservative MP Bob Spink, who defected to Ukip and became its first ever MP, has been charged with electoral fraud.

He and another man, 38-year-old James Parkin, have both been arrested over allegations that they submitted false signatures on Ukip nomination papers.

The accusations relate to the local election for Castle Point Borough Council in south Essex in 2016.

Essex Police confirmed Mr Spink has been charged with five counts of submitting false signatures on nomination papers on or before April 5 2016.

Mr Spink, now 68, was elected to Parliament in 1992, lost his seat in 1997, and won it back in 2001.

He defected to Ukip in 2008 and lost his seat to the Conservatives in 2010.

He has been charged with nine counts of submitting false signatures on nomination papers.

Authorities confirmed four of the charges related to false signatures. Five relate to obtaining genuine signatures by misleading electors about what they were signing for.

Both men will appear at Ipswich Magistrates' Court on April 25.