Fundraiser to help cover Carmichael’s legal costs
A CROWDFUNDING campaign to help cover embattled Northern Isles MP Alistair Carmichael’s legal costs has raised over £2,000 in less than 24 hours.
The page was launched on Tuesday – the same day the Election Court, convening for the first time in half a century in Edinburgh, finished hearing a submission from four Orcadian constituents who are challenging his re-election.
Sheila Ritchie, who launched the crowdfunder, credits Carmichael with having “fought so hard for his constituents” and says that during the general election campaign the MP “made a mistake which the SNP has blown out of all proportion”.
Ritchie said the challenge to Carmichael’s election was a “witch hunt”, and praised his tireless campaigning for human rights – in particular against the death penalty in the United States.
Carmichael held onto the seat with a much-reduced majority of 817 votes over the SNP’s Danus Skene – leaving him as just one of three non-SNP MPs representing Scotland at Westminster.
“They are using a vague law to try and overturn the election result, even though what he did is not related at all to his hard work on behalf of his constituents,” she states.
“This is nothing more than a ruthless attempt by the SNP to eliminate any remaining opposition to them in Scotland. Alistair is a fantastic local MP, and we need to stand up for him now.”
Ritchie adds: “He has told me that his defence will cost £50,000. That’s a lot of money. Please donate what you can and help stop the SNP witch hunt. This is an attack, plain and simple. Alistair deserves to be an MP.”
A crowdfunding effort by the four petitioners, which has been running for several months, has raised over £88,000 towards their legal costs.
The challenge relates to Carmichael authorising the leaking to the Daily Telegraph of a memo wrongly claiming that First Minister Nicola Sturgeon had indicated to the French ambassador that she wanted David Cameron to remain in Downing Street.
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A Cabinet Office investigation did not publish its findings until shortly after the election, when it emerged that Carmichael had lied about his involvement in the leak to Channel 4 News.
Two days of legal argument concluded on Tuesday afternoon, and it is now down to Lady Paton and Lord Matthews to decide whether the petition should proceed any further.
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