Wolverhampton election candidate's £10.5k campaign – for just 358 votes

An independent General Election candidate spent more than £10,000 on his campaign for a city seat that saw him win less than one per cent of the vote.

Sikh campaigner Jagmeet Singh outspent Tory candidate Paul Uppal in the battle for Wolverhampton South West, but his £10,496.98 outlay resulted in him receiving only 358 votes and losing his £500 deposit.

Meanwhile Green Party candidates failed to spend a single penny in their unsuccessful campaigns for the three Wolverhampton constituencies.

The figures have now been released showing the electoral expenses of candidates who contested seats across the city at the June 8 poll.

The expenses forms also reveal who bankrolled candidates at the election, with super-rich donor Jeremy Hosking paying out £10,000 to support two pro-Brexit Tory candidates.

The figures relate to all expenditure for the final four weeks of the snap election campaign, in which candidates were given a limit of around the £12,300 mark.

They show that the vast majority of cash went on campaign leaflets and advertising.

Mr Singh, aged 35, formed the pro-integration Panth Party ahead of the election and raised £6,049 from a JustGiving campaign.

Donations included £1,000 from Birmingham business Schmitz Rotary Engineering and £1,250 from a private individual, who wrote that it was ‘an inspiration to see such a humble person bring Sikh qualities of equality, justice, righteousness, truth and honesty to politics’.

Relief prison chaplain Mr Singh was born in London and lived in America for a decade before moving to Wednesfield.

He spent £4,415 on 90,000 campaign leaflets and £3,549.23 on advertising.

More than £450 was spent on targeted Facebook adverts, including one proclaiming: “The people of Wolverhampton are a proud people.

His expenses also included payments totalling £262.93 on materials explaining how to produce a Powerpoint presentation and £27.07 on how to write a press release.

Mr Singh rose to national prominence in 2015 when he used a live television appearance to launch a protest about the lack of media coverage of violence against Sikhs in the Punjab. His repeated interruptions led to him being threatened with ejection from the BBC’s Sunday Morning Live programme by host Sian Williams.

He finished last of six in the race for Wolverhampton South West with 0.8 per cent of the vote, one place behind the Green Party’s Andrea Cantrill who spent nothing and received 579 votes. Mr Uppal’s total election spend is recorded as £8,346.07.

He had £18,199 in donations, including £4,000 each from JCB and Gallagher Developments and £5,000 from West Midlands Conservatives.

Labour’s Eleanor Smith, who won the seat with a majority of 2,185 over Mr Uppal, spent £11,612.58, the bulk of which went on campaign materials. Her entire campaign was funded by the constituency’s Labour party.

Lib Dem Sarah Quarmby spent £723.68 while UKIP’s Rob Jones spent £889.54.

In Wolverhampton South East, Labour MP Pat McFadden spent £11,492.41 on his victorious campaign, having raised a whopping £27,505.41 through donations.

He was given £11,492.41 from his constituency party, £4,000 by the Community Union and £3,333 from St Philips Care Caledonia Ltd.

Tory candidate Kieran Mullan, who finished 8,514 votes behind Mr McFadden, spent £11,377.73, including £1,236.52 on Facebook adverts.

He received £5,000 from multi-millionaire Jeremy Hosking, who bankrolled a number of pro-Brexit candidates having donated £1.7 million to the Vote Leave EU referendum campaign.

Mr Mullan also received £7,000 from big time Tory backer and former Ealing mayor Barbara Yerolemou, as well as £500 from the LGBT+ Conservatives group.

Three constituency candidates lost their deposits. UKIP’s Barry Hodgson spent £873.96, Lib Dem Ben Mathis spent £666.84 while the Greens Amy Bertaut spent nothing.

In Wolverhampton North East Emma Reynolds spent £11,882.74 on retaining the seat she first won in 2010, all of which was donated from the constituency’s Labour party.

Conservative Sarah Macken, who finished 4,587 votes shy of Ms Reynolds, spent £7,175.86. Her donations totalled £11,180 and included £5,000 from West Midlands Conservatives and the same from hedge fund manager Mr Hosking, who is said to be worth around £330 million.

Ms Macken was also given £180 from Wolverhampton firm Carvers.

UKIP’s Graham Eardley’s spending totalled £1,060.96, while Lib Dem Ian Jenkins spent £697.36. Green Party candidate Clive Wood, who finished last with 1.3 per cent of the vote, declared expenses of zero.

Surplus funds from donations are usually held by constituency parties or by candidates for future campaigns.

Across the city 10 out of the 16 candidates who contested the election lost their deposits.