Maria Miller MP under fire for fake newspaper leaflets

Last week, the Conservative group in Basingstoke distributed election materials through letterboxes in anticipation of the upcoming general election.

The materials promote Dame Maria, who is expected to seek re-election as the Basingstoke MP.

The leaflet, titled Basingstoke Future, was designed to resemble a new local newspaper.

READ MORE: Data breach by Basingstoke MP Maria Miller was 'human error'

Matthew Pinto, a Basingstoke resident, expressed his surprise upon receiving a copy of Basingstoke Future, initially mistaking it for a new local newspaper.

“On initial inspection, this appeared to be a newspaper," he said.

Basingstoke Future leaflet distributed by Maria Miller's campaign group (Image: Contributed)

"It has a ‘red top’, headlines, a box headed ‘exclusive’, and a front cover story that was interrupted with 'continued inside'. My surprise arose because it was in reality a piece of election campaign material, distributed by the Conservative Party, and designed to fool people into thinking that it was a new local newspaper.

“To receive such a piece of campaign material with Dame Maria on the front cover, and mentioned in the small print as being behind the promotion of a fake newspaper was somewhat disingenuous. I wasn’t tricked by the material, but I worry that my elderly neighbours and family members are more trusting and may be unfairly influenced by campaign material mimicking the press."

Mr Pinto said the material was about the size of a newspaper.

This comes after Dame Maria herself strongly criticised such practices during the 2019 election.

READ ALSO: Maria Miller calls election material imitating local newspapers "appalling" and "potentially misleading"

At the time, she called the use of election material imitating newspapers "appalling" and "potentially misleading."

Her remarks came after the Winchester branch of the Liberal Democrats distributed political leaflets titled Mid-Hampshire Gazette.

Maria Miller's comment in the Gazette in 2019 (Image: Contributed)

"I think it is absolutely wrong to try and use the name of a local newspaper for political ends," she said then.

"Nobody should be doing that and it is potentially misleading people, and it is wrong."

In 2019, the News Media Association had published an open letter, calling on all political parties to cease the "damaging practice" of producing election campaign material resembling local newspapers.

Ahead of this year's elections, the Society of Editors has vowed to name and shame political parties using “absurd” fake local newspapers as campaign material.

Dame Maria has been contacted for comment.