Police dismiss Reform’s complaint over Labour’s ‘misleading’ Matt Goodwin clip

They will not be investigating.

On Wednesday, Reform reported Labour to the police over a video featuring Gorton and Denton by-election candidate Goodwin, which they claimed was "misleading."

Reform said the clip was a "false statement of fact" and had breached the Representation of the People’s Act 1983.

However, Greater Manchester Police have now said they will not be investigating the post.

“We can confirm we have received a report and after assessment, informed the complainant there is no offence identified," the force said.

The video in question showed Goodwin saying: “I was lucky enough or unfortunate enough to be in Manchester a few days ago and the energy in this room is 10 times what it was in Manchester so congratulations.”

Labour took this clip to criticise the Reform candidate for subsequently running in a Manchester constituency, captioning the video “this is what Reform’s latest candidate thinks about where he’s standing to represent.”

Goodwin and Reform had argued he was in fact talking about the Tory party conference in Manchester as opposed to the actual city itself.

On Tuesday, Goodwin, GB News host and hard-right academic, was unveiled as Reform’s candidate for the Gorton and Denton by-election, expected to take place on February 26.

Following Labour’s controversial decision to block Andy Burnham from running as their candidate, many believe the seat is now a straight race between Reform UK and the Greens.