Sometimes spending by parties promotes both the party and the candidate. In these cases, this spending may be reportable by the candidate and count towards the candidate's spending limit rather than the party’s.
Spending promoting party list candidates will always be party spending. The rest of this section is about party candidates standing in a constituency.
To assess whether spending is reportable by a constituency candidate you must first assess whether it promotes the candidate.
What is spending to promote the candidate?
If an activity is aimed at voters in the electoral area in which the candidate is standing to promote or secure the election of that candidate, then it is spending to promote the candidate.
For example, activity promoting a party will be regarded as promoting a constituency candidate whenever the item either:
identifies the specific candidate
identifies the specific constituency in which the candidate is standing
Where material is distributed across a number of constituencies, you will need to apportion the costs of the activity.
Where material:
features a candidate
is distributed across a wider area than just the specific constituency in which that candidate is standing
a proportion of the cost of that material will be regarded as used for the purposes of the constituency candidate’s election.
The proportion that will be regarded as used for the purposes of the candidate’s election is the cost of distribution in that candidate’s specific constituency.
The following pages provide examples of attributing spending and assessing how to report spending. If you are in any doubt as to whether spending is or will be candidate or party spending, you should contact us.
For more information on political party campaign spending, see our guidance on party campaign spending.
Please see splitting spending for further information on apportioning spending.