NO criminal charges will be brought following controversial General Election spending in 2015, the Crown Prosecution Service has announced.

Conservative politicians and officials faced allegations of electoral fraud following their successful campaign, which notably saw the use of battlebuses.

The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) has been considering files submitted by 15 police forces, including Avon and Somerset police, in relation to activities surrounding Tory campaigning in the 2015 general election.

No criminal charges will be brought over 14 police inquiries into Conservative Party election spending, though one file from Kent Police remains under consideration, the Crown Prosecution Service said.

South Somerset MP Marcus Fysh was among those Conservative prospective parliamentary candidates who received a visit from a battlebus, and whose spending would have exceeded the upper limit if battlebus expenses were included.

He said: "We knew all along I had done nothing wrong, so I welcome this news. I hope now the attempted smears by my opposition will stop.

"It is sad that they have nothing else to offer. Theresa May's strong and competent leadership in the national interest, continued progress on our promises in South Somerset, and keeping local people's aspirations at the heart of Government should now be the focus."

Conservative candidate for Wells, James Heappey, said: "I am pleased the matter is now resolved after a year long investigation by Avon and Somerset police.

"Being under investigation has not been pleasant for me, my family and my team but it is right the allegations have been fully examined and the police and CPS have decided there is no case to answer.

"I have always said we did nothing wrong and, most importantly, had we been required to declare a proportion of the battle bus costs locally, we would have been able to do so comfortably having underspent in the election by over £1,500."

The investigation centres on allegations expenses were incorrectly recorded, raising the potential for offences under the Representation of the People's Act 1983.

The announcement was made at 11am, ahead of tomorrow's deadline for submission of nominations for candidates in the June 8 General Election which is also the final date for candidates to be withdrawn from ballot papers.

Each file relates to allegations concerning a candidate and an election agent and the number of people involved totals at least 30.

The CPS received files from the following police forces: Avon & Somerset, Cumbria, Derbyshire, Devon & Cornwall, Gloucestershire, Greater Manchester, Kent, Lincolnshire, Metropolitan, Northamptonshire, Nottinghamshire, Staffordshire, West Mercia, West Midlands, West Yorkshire.

The CPS head of special crime Nick Vamos said that prosecutors considered files from 14 police forces, but determined that - while spending returns may have been inaccurate - there was insufficient evidence to prove that any candidate or agent was dishonest.

Mr Vamos added: "We reviewed the files 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."

In March the Conservative Party was fined a record £70,000 by the Electoral Commission for "numerous failures" in reporting its expenses for the 2015 General Election, and three by-elections in 2014.

Commission chairman Sir John Holmes said the Tories' failure to follow the rules "undermined voters' confidence in our democratic processes" and said there was a risk political parties were seeing such fines as "a cost of doing business".

The Conservatives accepted the fine but their claim that they complied fully with the investigation was questioned by the Commission, which revealed it had to go to court to obtain certain information from the party and criticised its "unreasonable uncooperative conduct".

A Conservative Party spokesman said at the time: "Political parties of all colours have made reporting mistakes from time to time.

"This is the first time the Conservative Party has been fined for a reporting error."