Laurence Fox unable to stand in 2024 London mayoral election after Reclaim Party files 'incomplete paperwork'

Laurence Fox will be unable to stand in the 2024 London mayoral election after "incomplete nomination paperwork" was filed.

Nominations opened on March 19 and closed at 4pm on Wednesday (March 27).

London Elects, the City Hall body which manages the election, said that paperwork was only submitted shortly before the 4pm deadline and that errors were found, leaving no time for Mr Fox's Reclaim Party to correct them.

It said in a statement: "The Greater London Returning Officer is bound by electoral law and has no ability to allow anything other than fully compliant nominations, submitted by the deadline, to stand."

London Elects put out the statement following a post by Mr Fox on Thursday evening. He wrote: "We checked, double checked and then triple checked our nominations, because we knew they would try this.

"The team made sure that every box was ticked, every t crossed and every i dotted. We will appeal this decision."

With his post, he published an apparent screen grab of correspondence from deputy Greater London returning officer Alex Conway.

Mr Conway writes that in the nomination members two boroughs, Islington and Lambeth, were each short of a 'subscriber' - registered electors - nominating Mr Fox. He added that three further subscribers could not be reconciled with voter register records.

Mr Fox previously ran for mayor in 2021, winning 1.9% of the vote. He will still be a candidate to become a city-wide London Assembly member in May 2024.

The activist has described himself as an opponent of "woke culture". In October he was sacked by GB News following comments about a female journalist which Ofcom would describe as "misogynistic".

London Elects said in a statement: "The Reclaim Party candidate’s representatives met with London Elects for the first time on Tuesday March 26, less than 24 hours before the close of the nominations deadline. At that time, the paperwork was incomplete.

"Mr Fox’s representatives were advised to ensure that completed forms were submitted well before the Wednesday 4pm statutory deadline. The paperwork was submitted very shortly before 4pm.

"Upon inspection, the nomination forms contained errors which - the deadline having passed - were too late for Mr Fox’s team to correct. The conclusion of London Elects was that the requirements of the nomination process were not completed by the deadline.

"The Greater London Returning Officer is bound by electoral law and has no ability to allow anything other than fully compliant nominations, submitted by the deadline, to stand."

The full list of nominated candidates for the London mayoral election will be published on Thursday (March 28).