News releases

The Electoral Commission – the independent party funding watchdog – has today published details of spending by campaigners that spent £250,000 or less campaigning in the referendum on the parliamentary voting system, held on 5 May 2011.

Six of the twelve organisations and individuals that registered as campaigners with the Electoral Commission have now reported spending a total of £283,242.

• Campaigners for a Yes vote reported spending £70,008
• Campaigners for a No vote reported spending £213,234

All of the registered campaigners who spent £250,000 or less submitted their returns to the Commission by the deadline of Friday 5 August.

We will publish spending by three campaigners who spent over £250,000 on November 30 (see Notes to Editors 2).

Three campaigners confirmed to the Commission that they did not incur any expenditure. These campaigners were not required to submit a return (see Notes to Editors 6).

Peter Wardle, Chief Executive of the Electoral Commission, said: “It is important that voters across the UK know how campaigners in elections and referendums spend their money. Releasing this information today is part of ensuring transparency in our democratic process.

“Today we have published the spending reported by 6 of the 12 referendum campaigners who registered with us – those who spent £250,000 or less.  We expect to publish details of the remaining campaign spending – by campaigners who spent more than £250,000 – later this year.”

Under the Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act 2000, all groups or individuals who intended to spend more than £10,000 in the referendum on the voting system were required to register with the Electoral Commission as registered campaigners.

Campaigners in referendums are not allowed to spend more than a specified amount (see Notes to Editors 3) during the regulated period and are required by law to submit campaign expenditure returns to the Commission.

For the referendum on the voting system, a ‘regulated period’ for campaigning ran from 16 February 2011 to polling day on 5 May 2011.

Registered campaigners who spent £250,000 or less were required to submit their spending returns to the Commission within three months of polling day.

Campaigners that spent more than £250,000 during the regulated period have until 5 November 2011 (six months from polling day) to submit an audited return to the Commission.

Further details of the campaign spending published today, including a breakdown of each campaigner’s spending by category, and copies of individual invoices and receipts, are available on the Electoral Commission website at: www.electoralcommission.org.uk/party-finance/party-finance-analysis/referendum-expenditure/2011-parliamentary-voting-system-referendum 

Ends

For more information:

Electoral Commission press office: 020 7271 0704
Out of office hours: 07789 920 414

Notes to editors

1. The Electoral Commission is an independent body set up by the UK Parliament. Our aim is integrity and public confidence in the UK’s democratic process. We regulate party and election finance, set standards for well-run elections and are responsible for the conduct and regulations of referendums held under the Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act (2000).

2. The campaigners that spent more than £250,000 are Conservative and Unionist Party, No Campaign Ltd and Yes in May 2011 Ltd. The rules for campaigners can be found on our website at www.electoralcommission.org.uk/party-finance/legislation/third-partiespermitted-participants/permitted-participants 

3. Details of spending limits can be found on our website at www.electoralcommission.org.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0003/105618/sp-referendum-pvs-rc.pdf 

4. Full details from all the spending returns, including invoices and receipts, can be found on our website at www.electoralcommission.org.uk/party-finance/party-finance-analysis/referendum-expenditure/2011-parliamentary-voting-system-referendum

5. Where returns have not been received by the appropriate deadlines we assess each potential breach in line with our Enforcement Policy, which can be found at www.electoralcommission.org.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0003/106743/Enforcement-Policy-30March11.pdf

6. The Electoral Reform Society Ltd, Labour Yes and Unlock Democracy are reported as having £0 expenditure because, as they did not authorise spending in their own right, they were not required to submit a spending return. They worked with the lead campaigner – Yes to Fairer Votes. If a campaigner works with a designated lead campaign group then all costs count towards the lead campaign group’s spending limit, not the individual campaigner’s limit.

7. To view full details of spending down to a return item level or extract expenditure information from our database for your own use, please use our PEF Online registers at https://pefonline.electoralcommission.org.uk/search/searchintro.aspx