Christine Jardine denied allegations that she omitted campaign spending declaration and said the story was “an exercise in reputational damage” JANE BARLOW/PAThe Liberal Democrat MP Christine Jardine has defended her election record after questions were raised about her spending. The MP for Edinburgh West is the second in her party to face queries over their campaign expenses in two days after Jo Swinson, the deputy leader and MP for East Dunbartonshire, was accused of omitting thousands of pounds from her spending total. The Herald newspaper reported that Ms Jardine, a former journalist, allocated a third of her bill for election materials to national spending because it promoted the Lib Dems rather than her specifically as the local candidate. She would have been £1,350 over the legal spending cap if this £3,000 had been counted towards her constituency campaign costs, according to the newspaper. Ms Jardine told…

Source: The Times August 18, 2017 11:15 UTC