Party spending and pre-poll donations and loans: UK Parliamentary general election

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Allocating spending across Great Britain

At UK Parliamentary general elections, there are different spending limits for different parts of the UK (England, Scotland and Wales and Northern Ireland).

This means that you must allocate spending between the parts, and you must stay within the limit for each part.1

If your party is registered in Northern Ireland, all your spending must be allocated to Northern Ireland. 

If your party is registered in Great Britain, you must allocate your spending between England, Scotland and Wales. 

Items used in each part of Great Britain must be counted towards the spending limit for that part. 
 

For example, if you are only standing candidates in Scotland, then your spending will all be allocated to Scotland.

For another example, if you distributed 10,000 leaflets in England and 10,000 leaflets in Wales, you would need to allocate half the cost to campaign spending in England and half to Wales. 
 

Minor overlaps

In some cases your spending in one part of Great Britain may have a minor effect in another part. 

You must allocate spending to the part of Great Britain that your spending was aimed at. 

For example, if you advertised in a Welsh newspaper it may also be distributed to part of a bordering county in England. In this case you would allocate all spending to Wales.

Spending that relates equally to parts of Great Britain 

Some types of spending may relate equally to different parts of Great Britain. Examples include websites, or advertising in a newspaper distributed across Great Britain. 

In these cases, you must divide the cost between the parts of Great Britain, in proportion to the number of UK Parliamentary seats in each.

For example, you run a social media campaign costing £40,000 targeting voters in England, Scotland and Wales. You cannot identify how much of the spending has an effect in any part of Great Britain; you only have the total figure.

The spending has an effect across all of Great Britain and therefore must be attributed to each part in proportion to the number of constituencies in each part.2

The spending has an effect in each of the 543 constituencies in England, 57 constituencies in Scotland and 32 constituencies in Wales – 632 constituencies in total.

You can do this using the following calculation:

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

Amount of spending attributed to England:

£40,000 × (543 ÷ 632) = £34,367.09

Amount of spending attributed to Scotland:

£40,000 × (57 ÷ 632) = £3,607.59

Amount of spending attributed to Wales:

£40,000 × (32 ÷ 632) = £2,025.32

You have spent £34,367.09 towards your limit on spending limit in England, £3,607.59 towards your spending limit in Scotland, and £2,025.32 towards your spending limit in Wales.

Last updated: 2 August 2024