Parliamentary briefing: Representation of the People Bill (Part 4 – Campaigns and Political Expenditure: the election agent, campaign expenses and returns, and digital imprints) – Committee Stage

Clause 54 – The election agent

Monday 13 April

This clause allows election agents to provide a correspondence address, rather than a home address, for publication in the Notice of Election Agents. This applies to all UK elections, and aligns with the approach taken by the Scottish and Welsh Governments

Candidates’ home addresses do not need to be printed on ballot papers or shown on statements of persons nominated. However, election agents’ addresses are currently published in the Notice of Election Agents. This means that if a candidate is acting as their own agent, and does not have an office address, their home address is published in the Notice of Election Agents.
Clause 54 enables election agents to provide a correspondence address instead of a home address. It applies to anyone acting as an agent for a candidate standing at UK parliamentary elections, and local government elections in England, Scotland and Northern Ireland. It also applies to sub-agents at UK parliamentary and GLA elections. All agents in Scottish Parliament elections and candidates acting as their own agents in Senedd elections can already provide a correspondence address, rather than a home address.
This change would provide additional safety for all election agents, and close a security loophole in instances where a candidate is acting as their own agent. In our report on the 2024 UK parliamentary general election we highlighted that the law should be updated in this area to further strengthen protections for candidates and agents given the unacceptable levels of abuse and intimidation at elections.

Clause 55 and Schedule 6 – Leave to pay late and disputed expenses claims

This clause and schedule transfer the power to grant leave to pay from the courts to the Commission

Currently, parties and campaigners must apply to court for permission to settle unpaid claims and invoices. This requirement is in place to ensure all incurred spending appears on a regulated entity’s spending return, and is counted towards their total spending limit. This gives voters transparency over the full spending of a party or campaigner.Currently, parties and campaigners must apply to court for permission to settle unpaid claims and invoices. This requirement is in place to ensure all incurred spending appears on a regulated entity’s spending return, and is counted towards their total spending limit. This gives voters transparency over the full spending of a party or campaigner.
However, applying to court is impractical, time consuming and adds further delays to settling outstanding balances, particularly for small suppliers who rely on speedy payment.
We support the transfer of power to grant leave to pay from the courts to the Commission. Invoices must be paid on time, and this clause would ensure late payments are dealt with in a more straightforward, practical way. The Commission already has responsibility for granting leave to pay at Scottish referendums, so it would be consistent to have it for elections as well.

Clauses 56 and 57, and Schedule 7 – Campaign expenses and returns

These clauses relate to provisions in Part 5 of the Bill which extend the Electoral Commission’s remit to include enforcement of the rules for candidates, local third party campaigners and recall petition campaigners.

Currently, the Commission does not enforce the spending rules for candidates, local third party campaigners and recall petition campaigners. Candidates must deliver their spending returns to Returning Officers (ROs). Any enforcement action relating to non-compliance with the spending laws set out in the Representation of the People Act 1983 (RPA) is a matter for police investigation and criminal prosecution.
We welcome the extension of the Commission’s remit to investigate and enforce certain political finance offences relating to candidates, local third party campaigners and recall petition campaigners. This would address the current gap in enforcement and strengthen voters’ trust in the regulatory system through more effective, consistent and proportionate regulation.
However, the effect of Clause 56 and Schedule 7 will be to require candidates, third party campaigners, and recall petition campaigners to submit two spending returns: one to Returning Officers, and a further copy to the Commission. This would place additional burdens on those submitting returns, is inefficient for candidates and, most significantly, risks introducing inconsistencies to publicly available political finance data.
For the system and our new role to function efficiently, it is important that returns are delivered to the Commission as the primary recipient. This would reduce the risk of inconsistency across political finance information in the public domain, help to address the perceived enforcement gap, and reduce the burden on candidates. We appreciate the importance of maintaining a local link to candidate spending and this could be achieved by the Commission - or the candidate - also copying returns to the local RO.

Clauses 63 to 64 – Information to be included with electronic material

These clauses extend the digital imprint requirement to unregistered third party campaigners, meaning they must include imprints on organic digital material, which is digital material that has not been published as an advert, like social media posts. This requirement is already in place in Scotland. Part 5 of the Bill extends the Commission’s remit to be the primary enforcer for imprint offences.

Imprints are required on some digital campaign material, showing who is responsible for it. This ensures there is transparency for voters, and the Commission provides statutory guidance on the digital imprints regime.
However, there is currently no requirement for unregistered third-party campaigners to include an imprint on their digital campaign material. If a third-party campaigner intends to spend more than £20,000 in England, or £10,000 in Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland campaigning at certain elections, they must register with the Commission.
Clause 63 extends the digital imprint requirements to unregistered third-party campaigners, meaning they must include imprints on organic digital material. This closes a known transparency gap, giving voters information about the source of more campaign material. This requirement already operates effectively for Scottish Parliament elections.
Imprint offences involving material relating to candidates at Scottish Parliament and Senedd elections will continue to be enforced by the police, whilst the Commission will enforce material relating to party imprints. This divergence could create confusion. The Commission recommends a single set of enforcement measures for a single body (the Commission) to achieve greater clarity, consistency and proportionality.
Clause 64 removes the requirement for Secretary of State and Parliamentary approval for corrective updates to the statutory guidance produced by the Commission. This will help ensure the guidance can be quickly and easily updated, to reflect digital and technological developments, for example, when social media platforms rebrand or change their names.
The clauses should be strengthened by requiring digital imprints to include the name of the candidate’s political party. Without this, the legislation misses a significant opportunity to improve the transparency of digital campaigning and drive voter confidence in the regime overall

Amendments relating to AI generated material

Amendments grouped with Clauses 63 and 64

NC18 [L Smart] and NC28 [E Darlington] would amend the digital imprint rules to require a statement to be included where the campaign material has been generated or altered by AI.

While the Commission does not have a role in regulating the content of campaign material, it is important voters can have trust and confidence in the authenticity and accuracy of the material they see. At the 2024 general election, we called on campaigners to consider how their campaign material would be received, particularly when using generative AI.
Proposed amendments NC18 and NC28 revise the Elections Act 2022 to require the labelling of AI generated content in digital imprints.
It is important to have consistency in transparency requirements across both print and digital material. While most AI-generated material is likely to appear online, as drafted, NC18 and NC28 refer to ‘electronic material’, meaning traditional forms of campaigning such as print material are out of scope.
NC18 would require that all materials be labelled in any instance where generative AI has been used. Given that generative AI can be used for tasks as simple as adding text to an image, further consideration should be given to whether such a broad requirement improves transparency for voters in a meaningful way and is practically enforceable, given the ever-increasing sophistication of generative AI technology.
NC28 refers to material which has been generated ‘wholly through generative artificial intelligence’. Further consideration should be given to whether it would be possible to bypass this requirement, and what transparency benefits the requirement to name the system used to generate content will bring to voters.