BURY North's prospective parliamentary candidate for the Conservatives, David Nuttall, will not face charges over 'battle bus' spending, the Crown Prosecution Service has confirmed.

A statement regarding evidence submitted by 14 police forces, including Greater Manchester Police, said while there was evidence that inaccurate expense claims had been returned, there was 'insufficient evidence' to prove 'any candidate or agent was dishonest'.

David Nuttall, who is currently standing for re-election to the Bury North seat, welcomed the CPS' decision.

He said: "I'm pleased they have investigated it and came to the conclusion that I hoped they would come to, that we did nothing wrong."

He will now continue his campaign for the General Election on June 8.

In March, GMP confirmed they had passed a file to the CPS relating to an allegation of electoral fraud in relation to the 2015 General Election.

The Conservative Party 'battle bus' visited a number of constituencies across the country in the lead up to the vote.

In March, the Electoral Commission fined the Conservative Party £70,000 and published a report.

It said: "The inclusion in the Party return of what, in the Commission’s view, should have been reported as candidate spending meant that there was a realistic prospect that this enabled its candidates to gain a financial advantage over opponents."

The CPS investigated whether candidates knew their returns were inaccurate and acted dishonestly when signing a declaration the figures were accurate.

The statement by Nick Vamos, CPS Head of Special Crime said: "We have reviewed the file in accordance with the Code for Crown Prosecutors and have concluded the tests in the code are not met and no criminal charges have been authorised."

The statement went on to say: "Although there is evidence to suggest the returns may have been inaccurate, there is insufficient evidence to prove to the criminal standard that any candidate or agent was dishonest."

In March, Mr Nuttall told The Bury Times that Conservative Party candidates were instructed that the battle bus was 'national spend'.

The CPS statement references this, saying: "It is clear agents were told by Conservative Party headquarters that the costs were part of the national campaign and it would not be possible to prove any agent acted knowingly or dishonestly."

The CPS is still considering one file sent by Kent Police in relation to overspending by Craig Mackinlay in the South Thanet constituency.