How much did your candidate spend?

Ranking the five candidates by the cash they spent on their campaign reveals a very different hierarchy to that announced in the early hours of Friday, May 7 in the De La Warr Pavilion.

Trust Party candidate Stuart Wheeler, the most outspoken challenger to MP Greg Barker, blew 37,092 on a high-profile campaign which saw him take fourth place with just 2,699 votes. The sum, which includes 14,571 on adverts in the Observer and 57 Trust Party rosettes, equates to a considerable 13.74 per vote.

At the other end of the scale, the constituency's first British National Party candidate, Neil Jackson, spent 460.18 on his campaign, with the bulk of it going on leaflets.

Mr Jackson took last place, polling 1,950 votes, equating to the most economical campaign at just 24 pence a vote.

The town's victorious MP, Conservative Greg Barker, spent 12,595 for his 28,149 votes - 45 pence for each voter. The sum, 11,000 of which was donated, included 60 on balloons and Tory rosettes.

Lib Dem candidate Mary Varrall, whose figure of 15,267 votes meant second place and a 36.5 increase on the 2005 election, bankrolled a campaign costing 5,049, the majority of which was met by donations.

Her outlay represents 33 pence per vote.

James Royston, the Labour challenger, spent 1,613 for his third place finish and 6,524 votes - 25 pence a vote.

Cash spent on election campaigns is strictly governed by the electoral commission, and detailed returns are submitted to Rother District Council chief executive Derek Stevens, acting returning officer, within 35 days of the election.

The total limit a candidate could spend in Bexhill and Battle was 43,146, broken into their long campaign (30,498) and the four weeks before May 6, known as the short campaign (12,648).