Guidance for Candidates and Agents at Local Authority Mayoral elections in England
Spending that promotes a candidate and a party
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.
To assess whether spending is reportable by the candidate you must first assess whether it identifies and promotes the candidate.
Sometimes, identifying the party will be enough to identify the specific candidate – for example, at a by-election held when there are no other elections, and so no other candidates that the activity could be promoting.
Where material:
- features a candidate
- is distributed across a wider area than just the specific electoral area in which that candidate is standing
only the cost of distributing the material in the candidate’s electoral area will be regarded as promoting the candidate, and must be included in the candidate’s return.
If you are in any doubt as to whether spending is or will be candidate or party spending, you should contact us.
There are only controls and spending limits on party spending in the periods before the following elections:
- UK Parliamentary elections
- Scottish Parliamentary elections
- Senedd elections
- Northern Ireland Assembly elections
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.
Examples
Spending by the party that promotes the candidate
Example A
A political party produces a letter that sets out the party’s policies and in the final lines it asks voters to vote for a specific candidate in that electoral area. Since the candidate is identifiable, the letter is to be regarded as distributed for the purposes of the candidate’s election.
Example B
A political party produces an advert that sets out the party’s policies and asks voters to vote for the party in that electoral area. Although the advert does not name the candidate, it identifies the electoral area. Therefore, the advert is to be regarded as distributed for the purposes of the party’s candidate’s election.
Spending that should be partially attributed to both the party and the candidate
Example C
A leaflet featuring the party leader is distributed across Great Britain, including in the electoral area where the party leader is standing. The leaflets distributed in the party leader’s electoral area are to be regarded as distributed for the purposes of the leader’s election as a candidate.
Example D
A prominent local councillor is featured in a leaflet that is distributed across the entire county, including in the specific electoral area they are standing in. The leaflets distributed in the councillor’s electoral area are to be regarded as distributed for the purposes of the councillor’s election as a candidate.
Example E
A party prepares a digital campaign featuring a popular party member in one area of the country. The party member is a candidate in one part of that area. The material is targeted at a particular group of voters and will appear in the social media feeds of someone who is in the target group. The target group includes a geographic location. The proportion of the campaign targeted in the prominent party member’s electoral area is to be regarded as published for the purposes of their election as a candidate.
Spending that doesn’t promote the candidate
Example F
A political party produces a letter that sets out the party’s policies and encourages voters to vote for the party. Although the letter is addressed to a household in an electoral area, the letter itself does not identify the candidate or the electoral area. This is not to be regarded as used for the purposes of the candidate’s election.
Example G
A party prepares a digital campaign featuring a popular party member across the entire country, including where the party member is a candidate. The material is not targeted but will appear if a particular set of words is typed into a search engine. It is not possible to ascertain how often or when this appeared to voters in the party member’s electoral area. This is not to be regarded as used for the purposes of their election as a candidate.