THE Liberal Democrats are being urged to prove they did not deliver 93,000 campaign leaflets and newsletters in the closely fought East Dunbartonshire constituency after the cost of printing the material was left off their successful candidate’s Jo Swinson’s official spending return.

Pete Wishart, the SNP MP, said the Lib Dem deputy leader faced “serious questions” after almost £7000 of spending was reportedly omitted from documents sent to the election watchdog as they were attributed to national spending and undelivered campaign materials.

Her official declaration to the Electoral Commission for the June election indicates her spending was £210 under the official limit of £14,619, the Herald reported yesterday..

READ MORE: Second Lib Dem MP now facing questions over election spending

Swinson said more than 93,000 leaflets and other material bought by the party at a cost of £2700 were never used so could be omitted from the total, as could £4040 which went on national spending promoting the party rather than her as a candidate.

Wishart called on the Lib Dems to prove the campaign material was unused by, for instance, providing receipts from a firm which would have disposed of them.

“Voters will find it hard to believe that so much cash could be spent on leaflets that just vanished. It was an election, not an illusion show,” said Wishart. “The Lib Dems should be forthright in accounting for the 93,000 campaign materials that mysteriously went unused. That is a huge quantity of leaflets, newsletters and other items. What happened to them? How were they disposed of? Do the Lib Dems have receipts or any evidence that these leaflets were never delivered to voters across East Dunbartonshire? If not, people will have good cause to be sceptical.”

He added: “This is clearly a very serious matter and the Lib Dems now face very serious questions in East Dunbartonshire. People have a right to know what has gone on here.”

Swinson reclaimed the seat from the SNP’s John Nicolson in this year’s snap General Election with a 5339 majority, having previously held it for a decade after first being elected in 2005. In 2015, she lost out to Nicolson by 2167 votes and winning the seat back was a key target for her party in June.

Individual candidate spending is governed by the Representation of the People Act and being convicted of submitting a false spending return can result in up to a year in jail.

The Liberal Democrats last night defended Swinson.

A party spokesman said: “All Liberal Democrat candidates follow the clear guidance they are given about election spending, and our party’s compliance team are in constant dialogue with the Electoral Commission to ensure that we are abreast of the latest advice and abide fully by all their requirements.

“All expenditure in this election was apportioned correctly and clearly identified in our election return, which is now a matter of public record.

“It’s understandable that the SNP are smarting from a disappointing result, but they should accept that they were beaten in a fair fight in seats right across Scotland, and concentrate instead on the important business of running the country.”

Separately, Scottish Liberal Democrat General Election campaign director Alex Cole-Hamilton was reported to the procurator fiscal following a police probe in relation to alleged “financial irregularities” in his election campaign in 2016, which the party has denied.

A spokeswoman for Police Scotland said no complaints had been received relating to Swinson’s election campaign in East Dunbartonshire.

After her re-election speculation mounted that former equalities minister Swinson would become party leader after Tim Farron stood down. But she opted not to go for the job, becoming deputy to former business secretary Vince Cable.