An arcane British electoral law has thwarted an attempt by Parisians to hand out croissants with pro-EU messages to London voters.
A group of friends from France and the UK had planned to give out 600 croissants to commuters outside King’s Cross station on Wednesday, accompanied by postcards carrying pro-EU messages written by people in France.
But the Electoral Commission said Operation Croissant was illegal under a law that prevents the use of food, drink or entertainment to influence voting.
The croissants were baked in Paris on Wednesday morning and transported to London on the first Eurostar train of the day. But the plan to give them out to commuters was thwarted when police intervened.
A statement from the organisers said they had never intended to “buy” votes: “It was conceived as an act of friendship, proximity and goodwill – an act of breaking bread.
“Unfortunately, as we discovered today, when we were contacted by the Metropolitan police homicide and major crimes command, we cannot do that. We were unaware that mixing ‘meat, drink, entertainment’ with a message of any kind before an election can be an infraction of the law – this is totally at odds with the gesture we wanted to show, so have adapted our plans accordingly.
“While it was never our aim to buy votes with croissants, we are happy to fall on our baguettes and stick to the right side of British law.”
Giving food or drink to people to influence their vote – “treating”, as it is known – used to be common in the 19th century. It was outlawed in the Corrupt and Illegal Practices Act of 1883 and has been included in electoral fraud legislation since then.
Current guidelines state: “A person is guilty of treating if either before, during or after a referendum they directly or indirectly give or provide any food, drink, entertainment or provision to corruptly influence any voter to vote or refrain from voting. Treating requires a corrupt intent – it does not apply to ordinary hospitality.”
Last year police investigated a Ukip candidate who handed out sausage rolls at a party event. No action was taken against Kim Rose. The rules do not prevent the provision of hospitality at political events.
The Operation Croissant organisers gave out postcards as planned. Messages ranged from the meaningful (“Let us keep together to fight for human rights, such as freedom of movement and freedom of speech”) to the funny (“There are not enough croissants in France to express how much we love you guys!”).
The croissants were donated to a homeless shelter.
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