Non-party campaigners: UK Parliamentary general elections

Campaigning in one part of UK:

For example, you spend £35,000 on producing election material and distribute it throughout the whole of England.

Spending in each constituency

As the spending had an effect across the whole of England, you must attribute the spending to each of the 543 constituencies in England equally:1

£35,000 ÷ 543 = £64.46

You have spent £64.46 towards the constituency limit of £17,553 in each constituency in England.

Spending in each part of the UK

You must attribute the spending on the campaign to the part of the UK in which it had an effect. As this spending only had an effect in England, you have spent £35,000 towards the £586,548 limit on regulated spending in England.2

Campaigning across more than one part of the UK:

Example 1

For example, as part of a wider campaign, you hold an election rally in London and another rally in Edinburgh and spend £30,000 on each rally. Each rally focuses on encouraging voters to support a party in the English and Scottish context respectively and has been widely advertised all over that specific part.

Spending in each constituency

Although the rallies took place in a particular constituency, the spending has an effect across the whole of England and Scotland. Therefore, the spending on each rally must be attributed to all constituencies in that part of the UK. The spending must be attributed equally to each constituency it has an effect in:3

• spending on the rally in London must be attributed equally across all 543 constituencies in England
• spending on the rally in Edinburgh must be attributed equally across all 57 constituencies across Scotland

You must make the following calculations:

Share of spending attributed to each of 543 constituencies in England:

£30,000 (spending on the London rally) ÷ 543 = £55.25

Share of spending attributed to each of 57 constituencies in Scotland:

£30,000 (spending on the Edinburgh rally) ÷ 57 = £526.32

You have spent £55.25 towards the constituency limit of £17,553 for each constituency in England and £526.32 towards the constituency limit for each constituency in Scotland.

Spending in each part of the UK

The spending on each rally must be attributed to the part (or parts) of the UK it had an effect in. Although the rallies were part of a wider campaign, the London rally had an effect only in England, and the Edinburgh rally only had an effect in Scotland. Therefore, you must attribute the spending on each rally fully to England and Scotland respectively.4

Therefore, you have spent £30,000 towards the £586,548 limit on regulated campaign spending in England, and £30,000 towards the £81,571 limit on regulated campaign spending in Scotland.

Example 2

For example, you run a social media campaign costing £20,000 targeting voters in England and Wales. You cannot identify how much of the spending has an effect in England or Wales; you only have the total figure.

The spending has an effect across England and Wales and therefore must be attributed to both parts of the UK in proportion to the number of constituencies in each part and to all of the constituencies in England and Wales equally.5

As this is one campaign across more than one part of the UK, we calculate the amount that should be attributed to each constituency first before calculating the amount that can be attributed to each part of the UK.

Spending in each constituency

The spending has an effect in each of the 543 constituencies in England and 32 constituencies in Wales – 575 constituencies in total.

Share of spending attributed to each of 575 constituencies in England and Wales:

£20,000 ÷ 575 = £34.78

You have spent £34.78 towards the constituency limit (£17,553) in each of the constituencies in England and Wales.

Spending in each part of the UK

The spending must be attributed to each part of the UK it has an effect in, in proportion to the number of constituencies in each part.

You can do this using the following calculation:

Total spending × (number of constituencies in that part of the UK ÷ total number of constituencies the spending has an effect in)

Amount of spending attributed to England:

£20,000 × (543 ÷ 575) = £18,886.96

Amount of spending attributed to Wales:

£20,000 × (32 ÷ 575) = £1,113.04

You have spent £18,886.96 towards the £586,548 limit on regulated campaign spending in England, and £1,113.04 towards the £54,566 limit on regulated campaign spending in Wales.

Campaign across the whole of the UK:

For example, your organisation carries out a UK-wide campaign encouraging voters to support parties who are in favour of a particular policy. You spend £75,000 on producing and distributing election material on social media. 

Spending in each constituency

The spending has an effect across the whole of the UK. You must attribute the spending equally to each of the UK's 650 constituencies:6

£75,000 ÷ 650 = £115.38

You have spent £115.38 towards the £17,553 limit in each constituency.

Spending in each part of the UK

The spending must be attributed to each part of the UK in proportion to the number of constituencies in each part.7

You can do this using the following calculation:

Total spending × (number of constituencies in that part of the UK ÷ total number of constituencies the spending has an effect in)

In this example this is:

England share of the UK-wide campaign:

£75,000 × (543 ÷ 650) = £62,653.85

Scotland share of the UK-wide campaign:

£75,000 × (57 ÷ 650) = £6,576.92

Wales share of the UK-wide campaign:

£75,000 × (32 ÷ 650) = £3,692.31

Northern Ireland share of the UK-wide campaign:

£75,000 × (18 ÷ 650) = £2,076.92

The proportion of UK-wide campaigning attributed to each part will count against the spending limit for that part.

Campaigning in a single constituency:

If you are campaigning in a single constituency, it is likely that this will be local campaigning. This is campaigning for or against one or more candidates in a particular constituency, or other electoral area. If this applies to your campaign, you should read our guidance for local campaigners at UK Parliamentary general elections.

If you are campaigning for or against political parties or categories of candidates in a single constituency, you must attribute the regulated campaign spending that has an effect in that constituency to your constituency limit in this constituency. This spending will also count towards your spending limit in the part of the UK where the constituency sits.

Campaign across multiple constituencies in one part of the UK:

For example, you carry out a social media campaign targeting voters across 10 constituencies in Wales. You spend £5,000 on this campaign. You cannot identify spending that only has an effect in each constituency.

Spending in each constituency

The spending has an effect in 10 constituencies in Wales. You must attribute the spending on the campaign equally to each of the constituencies:8

£5,000 ÷ 10 = £500

You have spent £500 towards the constituency limit (£17,553) in each of the 10 targeted constituencies.

Spending in each part of the UK

You must attribute the spending on the campaign to the part of the UK in which it had an effect. As this spending only had an effect in Wales, you have spent £5,000 towards the £54,566 limit on regulated spending in Wales.9

Campaign across multiple constituencies in more than one part of the UK:

In most cases, for this type of campaign you will be able to identify spending either that has an effect in each part of the UK or in each constituency. 

For example, you carry out a campaign delivering leaflets in five constituencies, two in Wales and three in England. You spend £1,500 on 2,000 leaflets, of which you distribute half in Wales and half in England. Spending on leaflets distributed in Wales is £750 and in England is £750.

Spending in each constituency

The spending for the leaflets in Wales has an effect in two constituencies in Wales. You must attribute the spending on the campaign equally to each of the constituencies:10

£750 ÷ 2 = £375

The spending for the leaflets in England has an effect in three constituencies in England. You must attribute the spending on the campaign equally to each of the constituencies:

£750 ÷ 3 = £250

You have spent £375 towards the constituency limit (£17,553) in each of the constituencies in Wales and £250 towards the limits in each of the constituencies in England.

Spending in each part of the UK

You must attribute the spending on the campaign to the part of the UK in which it had an effect. The leaflets distributed in Wales only had an effect in Wales, and the leaflets distributed in England only had an effect in England. Therefore, you must attribute the spending for each set of leaflets to Wales and England, respectively.11

You have spent £750 towards the £54,566 limit on regulated campaign spending in Wales, and £750 towards the £586,548 limit on regulated campaign spending in England.