Our role as a regulator
Summary
As a regulator, we:
- maintain registers of political parties in Great Britain and Northern Ireland, and register non-party campaigners
- provide guidance for anyone who might want to stand or campaign in an election
- publish political finance data
- regulate the imprint rules for parties and campaigners
- take action if we have reason to suspect the political finance law has been broken
Registering political parties
We maintain the registers of political parties in Great Britain and Northern Ireland. If a party wants to stand candidates at an election using a party name, description or emblem, they need to register with us.
Find out more about how political parties are registered
An application to register includes:
- a party name
- formal documents, including the party’s constitution, and its financial structure, showing the party can comply with election finance laws
- details of important roles, such as leader, treasurer and nominating officer
An application can also include party descriptions and emblems (these are optional).
We check each application to make sure only permitted names, descriptions and emblems are approved for use on ballot papers. They all must pass certain legal checks, including not risking voters being confused or misled when they look at a ballot paper.
Once registered, a party has legal responsibilities under electoral law, including only accepting money from specified permissible sources, and submitting regular financial reports to us.
Did you know?
- Anyone can comment on a party registration application.
- Parties can have up to 12 registered descriptions. Candidates can choose to use any of these on the ballot paper.
- At some elections, candidates can use a party description, instead of a party name, on the ballot paper. It must be clear which party they’re standing for.
- In Scottish Parliament elections, parties can add 'Scottish' to their name without needing to register an additional description.
- In Senedd and local council elections in Wales, parties can add 'Welsh' or 'Cymreig' to their name without needing to register an additional description.
Registering non-party campaigners
Non-party campaigners are individuals or organisations that campaign in the run-up to elections, but are not standing as political parties or candidates. They often campaign on certain issues, or in support or opposition to particular parties or candidates.
When they spend over a certain amount on campaigning, they need to register with us, and report on their finances. We publish a list of registered non-party campaigners.
Helping parties and campaigners comply with the rules
We provide guidance for anyone who might want to stand or campaign in an election, from political parties and campaigners, to candidates and their agents.
This guidance helps them to understand what electoral rules they need to follow, and what they need to report to us.
It should be possible for election campaigning to be innovative and engaging. To help parties comply with the law, and be innovative, we offer an advice service. We’re available to explain to parties and campaigners what impact their campaign activity may have on their financial reports.
There is a strong culture of compliance with political finance law in the UK. We work with parties and campaigners before elections to ensure high levels of compliance, so that we don’t have to take enforcement action afterwards.
Publishing political finance data
We publish financial data every quarter about donations and loans for parties and campaigners in the UK. These data sets show how parties and campaigners are being funded throughout each year. We publish statements of accounts annually.
After elections, we publish spending returns from parties and campaigners. This shows what they have spent on campaigning to influence the way that people vote.
Parties and campaigners must send their donations and loans reports, accounts, and spending returns to us by deadlines set out in law. We may take action if we don’t receive them on time, especially when that delays transparency of the data.
Regulating imprints on campaign and election material
All printed election material and some digital campaign material must have an imprint. We are responsible for regulating the rules on imprints.
Enforcing the law on imprints
Responsibility for ensuring that campaign and election material has an imprint is split between us and the police, depending on the type of material.
Digital material
We’re responsible for any material relating to:
- political parties
- groups of parties, candidates, future candidates or elected office-holders being for or against particular policies
- groups of parties, candidates, future candidates or elected office-holders holding particular opinions
Printed material
We are responsible for any material relating to political parties or if the material is about a political issue.
What happens when the law is broken
We will take action if we have reason to suspect the political finance law has been broken. The laws for political parties and other campaigners can also be enforced by the police, and some offences can only be investigated by the police. If we identify one of those offences we can notify the police so that they can decide whether to investigate.