A local election leaflet by a sitting Bradford councillor which appears to promise free solar panels to voters has been referred to the city’s returning officer by Respect as it is claimed it may breach the law.

The leaflet has been produced by the former Labour, now Peace party, candidate and councillor in the Heaton ward, Imdad Hussain. The front page promises the free panels to Heaton residents by 2017, apparently through an organisation Hussain says he has set up. Respect claim that the offer amounts to a bribe or inducement to vote, or treat as it is called, under the Representation of the Peoples Act 1983.

Hussain was banned for seven years from being a director of a company in 2011 after his then company was liquidated with debts of over £300,000 and Hussain had been unable or unwilling to produce financial documentation. Up to a million pounds had also been passed over the counter to several personal accounts.

On Monday Respect national secretary Ron McKay, who is agent for five candidates in the local election, referred the leaflet to election returning officer Tony Reeves.

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Further information; Ron McKay on 07980 675998