General elections to Scottish Parliament

158.     Paragraph 5 of Schedule 9 sets out the campaign expenditure limits for ordinary and extraordinary general elections to the Scottish Parliament. The expenditure limits are calculated by reference to the number of constituencies and/or regions contested by a party. A party receives an allowance of £12,000 for each constituency contested and of £80,000 for each region contested. Under the provisions of paragraphs 1 and 2 of Schedule 1 to the Scotland Act 1998 there are 73 constituencies each returning one MSP and eight regions each returning seven regional MSPs. Accordingly, the maximum amount of campaign expenditure a party could incur if it stood for election in all constituencies and regions is £1,516,000.

159.     These limits on campaign expenditure by parties in Scottish Parliamentary elections will replace those contained in Article 42 of the Scottish Parliament (Elections etc.) Order 1999 (SI 1999/787).

160.     Paragraph 5(3) provides that the relevant period during which the campaign expenditure limits will normally apply is, in the case of an ordinary general election, the four-month period before the date of the poll. Section 2(2) of the Scotland Act 1998 provides (subject to subsection (5) of section 2) that ordinary general elections are held on the first Thursday in May in the fourth calendar year following that in which the previous ordinary general election was held. Section 2(5) of the Scotland Act makes provision for the date of the poll to be brought forward or moved back by no more than one month. Subject to the exercise of the power in section 2(5), the next ordinary general election to the Scottish Parliament will therefore be held on Thursday 1 May 2003 and the relevant period for that election will commence on 2 January 2003.

161.     Paragraph 5(5) provides that the relevant period in the case of an extraordinary general election is the period beginning with the date when the Presiding Officer of the Scottish Parliament proposes a date for the poll for the election (in accordance with section 3(1) of the Scotland Act) and ending with the date of the poll for the election. By virtue of the timetable for Scottish Parliamentary elections laid down by Rule 1 of the Scottish Parliamentary Election Rules (contained in Schedule 2 to the Scottish Parliament (Elections etc.) Order 1999), the relevant period for an extraordinary election must be a minimum of 22 working days (that is excluding weekends and bank holidays), although in practice it is likely to be longer.

Ordinary elections to Welsh Assembly

162.     Paragraph 6 of Schedule 9 sets out the campaign expenditure limits for ordinary elections to the Welsh Assembly (the Government of Wales Act 1998 makes no provision for extraordinary elections). The expenditure limits are calculated by reference to the number of constituencies and/or regions contested by a party. A party receives an allowance of £10,000 for each constituency contested and of £40,000 for each region contested. Under the provisions of paragraphs 1 and 2 of Schedule 1 to the Government of Wales Act there are 40 Assembly constituencies each returning one AM and five Assembly electoral regions each returning four regional AMs. Accordingly, the maximum amount of campaign expenditure a party could incur if it stood for election in all constituencies and regions is £600,000.

163.     These limits on campaign expenditure by parties in ordinary elections to the Welsh Assembly will replace those contained in Article 47 of the National Assembly for Wales (Representation of the People) Order 1999 (SI 1999/450).

164.     Paragraph 6(3) provides that the relevant period during which the campaign expenditure limits will normally apply is the four-month period before the date of the poll. Section 3(2) of the Government of Wales Act provides (subject to section 3(3)) that ordinary elections are held on the first Thursday in May in the fourth calendar year following that in which the previous ordinary election was held. Section 3(3) of the 1998 Act makes provision for the date of the poll to be brought forward or moved back by no more than one month. Subject to the exercise of the power in section 3(3), the next ordinary election to the National Assembly will therefore be held on Thursday 1 May 2003 and the relevant period for that election will commence on 2 January 2003.

General elections to the Northern Ireland Assembly

165.     Paragraph 7 of Schedule 9 sets out the campaign expenditure limits for ordinary and extraordinary elections to the Northern Ireland Assembly. The expenditure limits are calculated by reference to the number of constituencies contested for a party. A party receives an allowance of £17,000 for each constituency contested. Under the provisions of section 33 of the Northern Ireland Act 1998 there are 18 constituencies each returning six members of the Assembly. Accordingly, the maximum amount of campaign expenditure a party could incur if it stood for election in all constituencies is £306,000.

166.     Paragraph 7(3) provides that the relevant period during which the campaign expenditure will normally apply is the four-month period before the date of the poll. Section 31(2) of the Northern Ireland Act 1998 provides that (subject to section 31(3)) the date of the next ordinary election will be Thursday 1 May 2003. Section 31(1) of that Act provides (again subject to section 31(3)) that subsequent ordinary elections are to be held on the first Thursday in May in the fourth calendar year following that in which the previous ordinary election was held. Section 31(3) of the 1998 Act makes provision for the date of the poll to be brought forward or moved back by no more than two months. Subject to the exercise of the power in section 31(3), the relevant period for the next ordinary election will be the period 2 January 2003 to 1 May 2003.

167.     Paragraph 7(5) provides that the relevant period in the case of an extraordinary general election is the period beginning with the date when the Secretary of State proposes a date for the poll for the election under section 32 of the 1998 Act and ending with the date of the poll. As no provision about Assembly elections has yet been made under section 34(4) of the 1998 Act, there is at present no other constraint as to the length of the relevant period.

Limits applying in special circumstances

168.     The definition of campaign expenditure in section72 is such that campaign expenditure incurred with one particular election in mind cannot be readily delineated from campaign expenditure incurred with a second election in mind. Indeed, an advertisement placed in a newspaper promoting a registered party in general terms may be intended by that party to enhance their electoral prospects at all elections in the coming weeks or months. In recognition of this, Part III of Schedule 9 provides for alternative campaign expenditure limits to apply when the relevant periods for different elections overlap. In most cases, the limits for individual elections are aggregated and applied to a new relevant period which is the aggregate of the relevant periods for the two or more overlapping elections.

Combination of elections to European Parliament and to devolved legislature

169.     Paragraph 8 of Schedule 9 determines the campaign expenditure limits in circumstances where the relevant period for a European Parliamentary election overlaps with the relevant period for an election to the Scottish Parliament, Welsh Assembly or Northern Ireland Assembly. If the elections to the European Parliament and the devolved legislature are held according to the fixed timetables provided for in the relevant statutes, such overlapping of relevant periods will happen only once every twenty years. The next occurrence will be in 2019 when the elections to the three devolved legislatures would be held on Thursday 2 May followed, five weeks later, with the elections to the European Parliament on Thursday 6 June.

170.     Paragraph 8(3) provides that where the relevant period (as defined in paragraphs 4 to 7) for these elections overlap the limits that would have applied to the European election and to the election to a devolved legislature are to be aggregated. Where a party contested all the constituencies and/or regions in both elections, the maximum amount of campaign expenditure that could be incurred would be as set out in the table below:

	Maximum amount in respect of European election £'000	Maximum amount in respect of election to devolved legislature £'000	Aggregate limit applying to both elections £'000
Expenditure in Scotland	360	1,516	1,876
Expenditure in Wales	225	600	825
Expenditure in Northern Ireland	135	306	441

171.     Paragraph 8(4) defines the relevant period in respect of which the aggregate campaign expenditure limits are to apply. Were the European Parliamentary elections and the elections to the devolved legislatures to overlap, as scheduled, in 2019 the relevant period in that instance would begin on 3 January 2019 (four months before the date of the ordinary elections to the devolved legislatures) and end on 9 June 2019 (the date of the election to the European Parliament).

Combined limits where parliamentary election pending

172.     Paragraph 9 of Schedule 9 determines the campaign expenditure limits that apply when the period during which a parliamentary general election is pending overlaps with the relevant period for a European Parliamentary election and/or an election to a devolved legislature. Paragraph 1(3) of Schedule 9 defines the period during which a parliamentary general election is pending as the period beginning with the date on which Her Majesty's intention to dissolve Parliament is announced and ending with the date of the election. Where such an overlap occurs, and a party is contesting each of the elections, the expenditure limits that would apply to that party in respect of each election (by virtue of paragraphs 3 to 8, as the case may be) are aggregated. A party that contested all constituencies and/or regions in each of the elections would be able to incur campaign expenditure up to the limits set out in the following table:

	Maximum limit for overlapping parliamentary and European Parliamentary polls £'000	Maximum limit for overlapping parliamentary and devolved polls £'000	Maximum limit for overlapping parliamentary, European and devolved polls £'000
Expenditure in England	19,065	-	-
Expenditure in Scotland	2,520	3,676	4,036
Expenditure in Wales	1,425	1,800	2,025
Expenditure in Northern Ireland	675	846	981

173.     Paragraph 9(4) defines the relevant period during which the aggregate expenditure limits would apply. The limits of the relevant period are dependent on whether the parliamentary election takes place either, on the one hand, on the same day as or later than the other election(s) or, on the other hand, earlier than the other election(s). Two examples will illustrate this. First, if a Scottish Parliamentary election was held on 5 May 2011 and was followed by a parliamentary general election on 2 June 2011 (having been announced prior to 5 May), the relevant period would run from 3 June 2010 to 2 June 2011. Second, if a parliamentary general election was held on 31 March 2011 and was followed by a Scottish Parliamentary election on 5 May 2011, the relevant period would run from 1 April 2010 to 5 May 2011.

174.     Paragraph 9(5) determines the campaign expenditure limits to apply when two parliamentary general elections are pending during different parts of the relevant period (as defined in paragraph 4 to 8) for a European Parliamentary election or an election to a devolved legislature or a combination of the two. For this provision to operate, two parliamentary general elections would need to be held within some four months of each other (the two 1974 elections were held seven months and ten days apart). A possible scenario would be:

10 February 2009	Four-month period preceding a European Parliamentary election begins.
24 February 2009	Parliamentary general election takes place (having been called in January).
26 May 2009	Her Majesty announces her intention to dissolve Parliament.
9 June 2009	European Parliamentary election takes place.
7 July 2009	Second parliamentary election takes place.

175.     In such a scenario, paragraph 9(5) determines the campaign expenditure limits to apply in "the first relevant period" (as defined in paragraph 9(6)) and "the second relevant period" (as defined in paragraph 9(7)). The first relevant period would, in this example, be the period beginning 26 February 2009 (that is, 365 days before the date of the first parliamentary general election) and ending on 26 May 2009 (the date on which Her Majesty announced her intention to dissolve Parliament in connection with the second parliamentary general election). The limit on campaign expenditure that a party could incur during the first relevant period would be the aggregate of the limits that would apply to the first parliamentary election and the European election by virtue of paragraphs 3 and 4 respectively.

176.     In the same example, the second relevant period would run from 27 May 2009 (the day after Her Majesty announced her intention to dissolve Parliament in connection with the second parliamentary general election) to 7 July 2009 (the date of the second parliamentary general election). The limit on campaign expenditure that a party could incur during the second relevant period would be the limit that would apply to the second parliamentary election by virtue of paragraph 3.

Combination of limit under paragraph 9 and other limits

177.     Paragraph 10 of Schedule 9 determines the campaign expenditure limits in circumstances where a combination of elections that would fall within the ambit of paragraph 9 is in turn combined with one or more other elections to the European Parliament or to a devolved legislature that would fall within the ambit of any of paragraphs 4 to 8. An example of such a combination would be:

9 June 2009	European Parliamentary election takes place.
14 September 2009	Her Majesty's intention to dissolve Parliament is announced.
5 October 2009	The Presiding Officer of the Scottish Parliament sets a date for an extraordinary general election.
12 November 2009	The parliamentary general election takes place and, at the same time, the extraordinary general election to the Scottish Parliament.

178.     In such a scenario, paragraph 10(3) provides that a party contesting all three elections would attract an expenditure limit in Scotland which is the aggregate of the limits that would apply for each of the three elections. The limits to apply in England, Wales and Northern Ireland would be the aggregate of the limits that would apply to the parliamentary and European Parliamentary elections.

179.     The combined period (as defined in paragraph 10(4)) in the case of the above example would begin on 13 November 2008 (that is, 365 days before the date of the parliamentary general election) and end on 12 November 2009 (the date of the combined poll). By virtue of paragraph 10(5) the limits on campaign expenditure for the European Parliamentary election on 9 June 2009, as determined in accordance with paragraph 4 of Schedule 9, would continue to apply to the relevant period for that election (10 February 2009 to 9 June 2009).

Combination of parliamentary general election and other election, or elections, falling within paragraphs 4 to 8

180.     Paragraph 11 of Schedule 8 determines the limit on campaign expenditure when the relevant period for a parliamentary general election (as defined in paragraph 3) overlaps with the relevant period for another election, or elections (as defined in any of paragraphs 4 to 8) and paragraph 9 does not apply. An example would be:

4 January 2007	Four month period before Scottish ordinary election begins.
3 May 2007	Scottish ordinary election.
3 September 2007	Presiding Officer sets date for an extraordinary election to the Scottish Parliament.
11 October 2007	Scottish extraordinary election.
3 March 2008	Her Majesty announces her intention to dissolve Parliament.
10 April 2008	Parliamentary election.

181.     Under this example the limit applying to a party which contested all three elections in Scotland would be the aggregate of the limits provided for in paragraphs 3 and 5 in respect of each election. The aggregate would apply for "the combined period" (as defined in paragraph 11(5)), namely the period beginning on 4 January 2007 (that is, four months before the Scottish ordinary election) and ending on 10 April 2008 (the date of the parliamentary election).

182.     By virtue of paragraph 11(6), the limits provided for in paragraph 5 would continue to apply to the relevant periods for the two Scottish Parliamentary elections (namely, the periods 4 January to 3 May 2007 and 3 September to 11 October 2007).

Sections 80 to 84 : Returns

183.     Sections 80 to 84 are concerned with the preparation, auditing and submission of returns as to campaign expenditure. The registered treasurer of a party is required to prepare a return after each relevant campaign period and it is made an offence for the treasurer to fail to submit a return or to knowingly or recklessly submit a false return. The return must be accompanied by a declaration by the treasurer as to its accuracy. A party must submit its return to the Electoral Commission within three months of the end of the relevant campaign period to which the return relates, unless the party's expenditure exceeds £250,000, in which case the return must be independently examined by a qualified auditor and submitted within six months. All returns received by the Electoral Commission are to be open to public inspection.

Part VI : Controls relating to third party national election campaigns

Sections 85 to 87 : Controlled expenditure by third parties

184.     The purpose of this Part is to apply restrictions upon election expenditure by third parties. Section 75 of the Representation of the People Act 1983 regulates the expenses which third parties may incur in promoting or procuring the election of a candidate in a particular constituency contest. This Part makes comparable provision in relation to national third party expenditure which is intended to generally promote or procure the election of a registered party and its candidates. Section 85(2) specifies the expenditure which is to be subject to the controls set out in this Part. "Controlled expenditure" is that incurred in connection with the production or publication of material which is made available to the public at large, or any section of the public, and which is designed to promote or procure the election of a particular registered party or a particular category of candidates, whether they be those standing in the name of a particular registered party or a group of candidates who, irrespective of party, share particular views.

185.     Section 85(4) specifies that "controlled expenditure" includes expenses in relation to material designed to achieve its purpose by reducing support for other candidates or another party. It does not matter whether the material names the candidates or party which it is intended to benefit or disparage. In essence the test is whether the material can reasonably be regarded as intended to benefit a particular party's electoral prospects. The cost of a poster campaign advocating a particular policy without explicitly supporting or attacking a named political party might nevertheless fall to be regarded as "controlled expenditure" if the policy in question was closely identified with a particular political party or group of candidates.

186.     The controls set out in this Part apply to material affecting the electoral prospects of a political party or candidates in elections to the House of Commons, the European Parliament and the devolved legislatures. No limits are, as such, imposed on controlled expenditure by third parties in connection with local government elections, although any such expenditure incurred during the relevant campaign period for one of the above elections would count towards the expenditure limit for the election in question.

187.     The expenditure controls would apply, under section 86(1), to expenditure in kind (that is to property, services or facilities provided for the use or benefit of the third party either free of charge or at a rate which is more than 10 per cent below their market value), where the market value of property etc. provided free of charge, or the difference between the rate charged and their true market value, is more than £200. When a third party incurs expenditure within the meaning of section86(1), it will be required, under section 86(6), to make a declaration as to the value of the benefit for inclusion in a return as to controlled expenditure under section 96. Section87 details certain types of expenditure which may be incurred by or on behalf of a third party, but which are not to be treated as controlled expenditure for the purposes of Part VI.

Sections 88 and 89 : Recognised third parties

188.     Section 94(3) to (5) makes it an offence for a third party to incur controlled expenditure in excess of £10,000 in England or £5,000 in Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland during a regulated period for an election, unless it is a recognised third party. The procedure whereby a third party can become a recognised third party is set out in section 88. The procedure involves submitting a notification to the Electoral Commission. By virtue of section 88(2) only the following may give a notification: an individual resident in the United Kingdom or registered as an overseas elector; a registered party; or a permissible donor falling within section 54(2)(b) or (d) to (h). The notification given by a third party must specify the name and address of the third party and, in the case of a company, trade union, building society, limited liability partnership, friendly or industrial and provident society or unincorporated association, the person who will be responsible for ensuring compliance with the accounting and disclosure provisions of this Part. (The 'responsible person' in the case of a third party that is a registered party will be the treasurer of the party and in the case of an individual, that individual.) Such a notification may be made at any time. A notification under section 88 will normally lapse unless renewed on an annual basis. Under section 88(5) a notification which would have lapsed during a regulated period continues in force until the end of that period. Section 89 requires the Commission to maintain a register of notifications.

Sections 90 to 93 : General restrictions relating to controlled expenditure by recognised third parties

189.     In order to ensure proper observance of the limits on controlled expenditure by third parties, sections 90 and 91 require that all such expenditure, and any payment in respect of such expenditure, must be authorised or made by the responsible person or a person authorised in writing by him. Similarly, section 92 requires that any claim for payment in respect of campaign expenditure must be sent to the responsible person or other authorised person. These provisions (and section 93, which provides for disputed claims) are similar to the provisions in Part II of the Representation of the People Act 1983 concerning election expenditure by candidates and their agents.