Parties face fines over illegal Wakefield election posters

A total of 15 candidates competed for the Wakefield seat during the by-election

More than 400 illegally-placed election posters were removed during the Wakefield by-election, it has emerged.

Candidates have also been warned they face a £40 fine for each remaining poster not removed within 10 days of the 23 June election.

Fifteen candidates contested the seat, won by Labour's Simon Lightwood.

The warning came from Councillor Maureen Cummins in an online Q&A chat as she responded to a complaint that the posters "look a mess".

According to the Local Democracy Reporting Service, the exchange took place during Wakefield Question Time, which gives residents the opportunity to put questions to the council's key decision-makers live on Facebook.

One resident asked: "Now the election is over, are all the parties going to go around Wakefield and remove all the endless posters on every lamppost as it makes the city look a mess?"

In reply, Ms Cummins, Wakefield Council's Cabinet member for communities, poverty and health, said: "I know that posters on lampposts and a variety of areas do make the city look a bit jaded.

"But I can assure you that over the election campaign we have already removed over 400 posters that were illegally posted on columns that they should not have been posted on. We will continue to do that."

She added: "All the candidates are on warnings that if they are not taken down by the 10-day period then we will take them down and we will fine them."

The by-election was triggered by the resignation of the city's former Conservative MP Imran Ahmad Khan, who was jailed in May for sexually assaulting a 15 year old boy.