Guidelines and restrictions on decision making and publicity during the pre-election period
The following guidance is based on information prepared by the Local Government Association and updated for 2019. The restrictions apply largely to the Council and do not affect other campaign rules for candidates during elections. You can still issue your own publicity and talk directly with the media. However, what we (candidates and the Council) cannot do is use the resources of the Council to promote the profile of any candidate or party either directly or indirectly during the election period.
The local elections are due to take place on Thursday 2 May 2019. The associated restrictions on publicity during the pre-election period start on Monday 25 March 2019. These restrictions apply to all elections happening during this period.
From the start of the pre-election period (‘Purdah’), the Council must comply with restrictions outlined in Section 2 of the Local Government Act 1986. In addition a Code of Recommended Practice on Local Authority Publicity published in 2011 makes clear that particular care should be taken in periods of heightened sensitivity, such as in the run up to an election. The Act defines publicity as “any communication, in whatever form, addressed to the public at large or to a section of the public.”
Generally, the Act says that the Council should “not publish any material which, in whole, or in part, appears to be designed to affect public support for a political party.” The Code of Practice recommends that authorities should generally not issue any publicity which seeks to influence voters and that publicity relating to individuals involved directly in the election should not be published unless expressly authorised by statute.
Decision making
In relation to decision making within the Council, the position remains that it is ‘business as usual’ unless there are very good reasons why this should not be the case. In the vast majority of cases, the pre-election period will have no impact on normal council business, including the approval of planning decisions.
What this means
• The primary restriction is on proactive publicity by the Council which particularly relates to candidates and other politicians involved directly in the election.
• The Council can still issue media releases on factual matters provided that these do not identify individual councillors or groups of councillors.
• Councillors are still free to respond to enquiries received from the media in a personal capacity.
• Individual councillors can issue their own statements, write letters to the local newspaper(s) for publication, contact the media directly or say what they like in a personal capacity, but must not use council resources to do so.
It is still possible for the Council to issue statements on behalf of a councillor holding a key political or civic position provided it relates to important events which are outside the Council’s control and can be shown to justify a member response. These occasions are likely to be rare and to be the exception, rather than the rule.
Imprint
Councillors will also be familiar with another element of electoral campaign law – the use of the Imprint on campaign material. This is a long-standing practice whereby campaign material is clearly labelled as such with information about the promoter, candidate and the printer. However, the rise in the use of online and social media in recent years has led to some inadvertent breaches of this law.
The Electoral Commission has published some helpful guidance on the requirement for Imprints on all campaign material. In particular it says in relation to online media;
“As good practice, we recommend that you should put an imprint on electronic material, such as websites and emails. The imprint should include the name and address of the promoter and the organisation on whose behalf it has been produced.
You should include an imprint unless the size or format of the election material would mean that the imprint is not legible.
Where it is impractical to place the full imprint on the election material you should consider how to provide some other means for the material to be associated with you.
Any posters that are available for download from a website should carry the full imprint.
Crowdfunding
If you are using a crowdfunding website, you should ensure that it is clear on the web page who the money is being donated to. We recommend that you should put an imprint on the web page. You can find out more information on our crowdfunding factsheet.
Tweeting and posting on social media sites
You should display your full imprint details prominently on your profile. You can include a shortened link to your imprint in your tweet or post.”
The Full Electoral Commission Factsheet is available here.
(Further information: Tom Carne ext 4039)