A UKIP candidate is being investigated by police over allegations of electoral fraud.
The latest blow for the party comes days after a slew of would-be councillors were accused of making racist or homophobic comments.
Northumbria Police said officers were investigating a report of alleged electoral fraud in the Cowpen area of Blyth.
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Detective Inspector David Brown said: ‘We can confirm that we have received a complaint... We are in the early stages of the investigation.’
UKIP has already been forced to respond to a series of revelations about candidates’ racist pasts.
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Others are accused of making homophobic comments or saying that vigilantes should kill paedophiles.
And last night UKIP MEP Godfrey Bloom sparked fresh controversy when he repeated his call for company bosses not to employ women of child-bearing age.
Branding maternity rights ‘draconian’, he said: ‘I would say be very, very careful indeed what that young woman has to offer.'
Controversial: Godfrey Bloom, UKIP MEP, advised employers not to hire women of child-bearing age, while UKIP candidate for East Sussex, Anna-Maria Crampton is said to have blamed Jewish people for the Holocaust
‘If I wanted a receptionist or a dental nurse, I would be thinking very carefully about the age of that woman because she has to turn up at nine o’clock every morning. This isn’t rocket science.’
Two UKIP candidates have been suspended amid claims of alleged racism. Anna-Maria Crampton from East Sussex allegedly made comments blaming Jewish people for the Holocaust, and Sue Bowen is a former BNP member.
Richard Wilkins, a candidate on the Isle of Wight, said Mick Philpott, who killed his six children in a fire, should have faced ‘chemical castration’ so he could not have claimed so much in benefits.
Chris Scotton, a candidate in Leicester, has a Facebook page endorsing the far-right English Defence League.
A spokesman for UKIP said the Tories had been scrutinising its candidates. ‘Were we inclined to return the favour; we would find even more examples to use against them. We absolutely do not condone homophobic, xenophobic, extreme nor unpalatable views.’