PRIME Minister Theresa May was accused yesterday of telling a blatant lie about the SNP in a failed bid to deflect attention from the fact that her Conservative Party has been found guilty of electoral malpractice on a massive scale.

May’s lie about the SNP followed the announcement yesterday by the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) that they would not be charging candidates and agents over the election expenses scandal.

The CPS made it clear, however, that there was evidence obtained by up to 14 police forces that candidates and agents may have submitted inaccurate returns. According to the CPS, the blame for this was laid fairly and squarely at the feet of Conservative Party headquarters which has already been fined £70,000 by the Electoral Commission for its blatant wrongdoing.

In an extraordinary attempt to spin her way out of the scandal, May told journalists in Nottingham: “We have seen all the major parties and the Scottish nationalists being fined for mistakes made on national expenses.”

But the Conservatives were unable to back up her false claim and the Electoral Commission was quick to confirm that the SNP has never been fined over any election matter.

The First Minister Nicola Sturgeon, a lawyer by profession, tweeted: “PM should apologise for this attempt to smear the SNP - unlike Tories, we abide by rules and have never been fined by Electoral Commission.”

Last night the PM’s office was still refusing to accept that she had lied and no apology or correction had been issued by the time The National went to press.

When the CPS announced its ‘no prosecution’ decision, it revealed it is still awaiting the outcome of the Kent police inquiry into allegations concerning Conservative Party spending in the South Thanet constituency where Nigel Farage was the Ukip candidate.

May nevertheless claimed: “The CPS has decided – they are an independent body – they have decided that no charges will be brought against any candidate in relation to this matter.

“Candidates did nothing wrong. It’s very important and I repeat that – I have said it many times – candidates did nothing wrong.”

First Minister Sturgeon commented: “Notwithstanding the fact the CPS say there is not the evidence, the high bar of evidence, to prove criminal intent, there is lots to suggest that the Tories were ‘at it’ when it came to how they were allocating election expenses in some constituencies.”

The CPS statement said that “under the Representation of the People Act, every candidate and agent must sign a declaration on the expenses return that to the best of their knowledge and belief it is a complete and correct return as required by law. It is an offence to knowingly make a false declaration. In order to bring a charge, it must be proved that a suspect knew the return was inaccurate and acted dishonestly in signing the declaration.

“Although there is evidence to suggest the returns may have been inaccurate, there is insufficient evidence to prove to the criminal standard that any candidate or agent was dishonest.

“The Act also makes it a technical offence for an election agent to fail to deliver a true return. By omitting any ‘Battle Bus’ costs, the returns may have been inaccurate. However, it is clear agents were told by Conservative Party headquarters that the costs were part of the national campaign and it would not be possible to prove any agent acted knowingly or dishonestly.”

Despite this statement of headquarters fault and the record Electoral Commission fine, Conservative Party chairman Patrick McLoughlin said the complaints were politically motivated while other Conservatives called for the heads of the Electoral Commission to resign.

Former SNP First Minister Alex Salmond, who claimed May called the snap election to pre-empt the election scandal, said: “It is extraordinary that election rules can be so blatantly broken and as yet, at least, no one is to be held criminally responsible.

“Of course, the Tory Party have been fined a record amount by the Electoral Commission but that is a mere flea bite for an organisation with their vast resources.

“Indeed, such is their arrogance they have appointed the same top team to take charge of this campaign, who were ultimately responsible for the expenses scandal of the last election.

“It does demonstrate that even record fines are not sufficient to keep Tories in check and enforce the rule book. That brings politics into disrepute.”