Once the UK Parliamentary general election is announced, the union also runs separate campaigns about the election.
Some of the material of the election campaigns advocates people “vote for public services” and some explicitly advocates a vote for a political party. This activity is made available to the public and meets the purpose test. Because the spending is above the notification threshold, the union registers with the Electoral Commission as a non-party campaigner.
However, none of the activity relating to the ballot for strike action was regulated as it did not meet the purpose test. It therefore does not count towards their spending limit or need to appear in their return.