South Thanet MP Craig Mackinlay is due in court today to face charges relating to his 2015 general election expenses.

Conservative MP Mackinlay, 50, his election agent at the time Nathan Gray, 28, and campaign specialist Marion Little, 62, have all been charged under the Representation of the People Act 1983.

All three, who deny the charges, are due to appear at Southwark Crown Court, where they will formally enter pleas. An earlier hearing at the start of August was postponed.

The charges relate to allegations that the party's election expenses during the 2015 campaign in the constituency were not properly reported to the Electoral Commission.

Expenses incurred during the campaign in South Thanet were wrongly attributed to national expenditure instead of local expenditure, it is claimed. Had they done so, they would allegedly have been in breach of spending limits.

The charges concern the costs of battle buses used to bring in activists and hotel accommodation. The election campaign saw Mackinlay defeat the then UKIP leader Nigel Farage in a bitter battle for the Thanet South seat.

Mackinlay is charged with two counts of making false election expenses declarations.

At an earlier hearing at Westminster magistrates court, Mackinlay indicated he would be pleading not guilty, as did Gray and Little.

The maximum sentence Mackinlay could face if convicted is one year in prison or a fine.