With the local elections approaching, the actions of the Council and its Members and officers will be subjected to closer scrutiny than usual and many activities that would normally pass without comment could become the subject of controversy. This note is intended by way of general guidance and highlights some of the key issues. It covers the rules on publicity, use of Council facilities, Council meetings, use of premises during the election and some particular rules relating to officers.
The principles underlying the conduct of Members and officers during the election are an extension of those that apply at all other times, such as the Members’ Code of Conduct, the Employees’ Code of Conduct and the Member/Officer Protocol.
Executive summary - What this means in practice
Publicity is defined as “any communication, in whatever form, addressed to the public at large or to a section of the public”.
The first question to ask is “could a reasonable person conclude that you are spending public money to influence the outcome of the election?” In other words, it must pass the ‘is it reasonable’ test. When making your decision, you should consider the following:
We should not:
- Produce publicity on matters that are politically controversial
- Make references to individual candidates or parties in press releases
- Arrange proactive media or events involving candidates
- Issue photographs that include candidates
- Supply council photographs or other materials to political groups unless you have verified that they will not be used for campaigning purposes
- Continue hosting third party blogs or e-communications
- Help with national political visits (as this would involve using public money to support a particular candidate or party). These should be organised by political parties with no cost or resource implications for the Council
We should also think carefully before we:
- Continue to run campaign material to support our own local campaigns. If the campaign is already running and is non-controversial (e.g. on issues like recruitment, recycling or waste collection) and would be a waste of public money to cancel or postpone them, then continue. However, we should always think carefully if a campaign could be deemed likely to influence the outcome of the election. In such cases we should stop or defer them. An example might be a campaign on an issue which has been subject of local political debate and/or disagreement.
- Launch any new consultations, unless it is a statutory duty or considered normal council business, such as budget consultations. We should consider carefully before starting any new consultations or publish report findings from consultation exercises, which could be politically sensitive.
We are allowed to:
- Continue to discharge normal council business (including budget consultations or determining planning applications, even if they are controversial)
- Publish factual information to counteract misleading, controversial or extreme (e.g. racist/sexist) information
- Use relevant lead officers rather than Members for reactive media releases
- Use a politician who is involved in an election when the Council is required to respond in particular circumstances, such as in an emergency situation or where there is a genuine need for a Member-level response to an important event beyond the Council’s control. Normally, this would be the Chair rather than the Leader, i.e. someone holding a politically neutral role. If the issue is so serious, it is worth considering asking the Council’s group leaders to agree to a response which would involve all of them
- Provide factual information in response to a request from a candidate. We must not provide any written or oral view, opinion or interpretation of the information, which might be seen to support the view of a particular candidate or political party
If in any doubt, seek advice from the Returning Officer or the Monitoring Officer, Legal or Communications colleagues. Ultimately, we must always be guided by the principle of fairness. It is crucial that any decisions we take would be seen as fair and reasonable by the public and those standing for office.
Publicity
The Local Government Act 1986 prohibits local authorities from publishing any material which, in whole or in part, appears to be designed to affect public support for a political party.
Publicity is defined very widely in section 6 of the Local Government Act 1986 as “any communication, in whatever form, addressed to the public at large or to a section of the public.” Therefore, as well as covering the more obvious forms of publicity, such as press releases, speeches, leaflets and newspaper articles issued by or on behalf of the Council, it can include posters, sponsorships, events, displays, etc.
The Code of Recommended Practice on Local Authority Publicity issued under sections 2 and 4 of the 1986 Act requires all local authority publicity to:
- be lawful
- be cost effective
- be objective
- be even-handed
- be appropriate
- have regard to equality and diversity
- be issued with care during periods of heightened sensitivity
The last principle is of particular relevance during the pre-election period.
There is no hard and fast rule as to whether a publication is party political. Factors to be taken into account when considering whether or not this prohibition applies include:
- The content and style of the material
- The time and circumstances of publication
- The likely effect of the material on those to whom it is directed
- Whether the material promotes or opposes a point of view on a question of political controversy which is specifically identifiable as the view of one political party but not another
- References to a political party or to persons identified with a political party
- Where the material is part of a campaign, the effect which the campaign appears to be designed to achieve
Information about individual Councillors’ proposals, decisions and recommendations may be published where this is relevant to their particular positions and responsibilities within the Council (e.g. as an Executive Member or Committee Chair). Such publicity should be objective and explanatory, and should not expressly advocate the policies of a particular party or attack those of other parties, groups or individuals.
Guidelines Specific to Election Periods
The pre-election period (formerly referred to as ‘purdah’) starts with the publication of the notice of elections and ends the day after the elections. It therefore covers the period between XX March to XX May 2025 inclusive.
Many of the provisions of the Code discussed above which apply at all times increase in importance before an election. In the election period, particular care needs to be taken to ensure that any Council publicity is not perceived as promoting a particular candidate or group of candidates.
The first question to ask is “could a reasonable person conclude that you were spending public money to influence the outcome of the election?” In other words, it must pass the reasonableness test.
At this time, there should be no proactive publicity of candidates and other politicians directly involved in the election. Specifically, the guidelines highlight the importance of ensuring that any publicity is objective, balanced, informative and accurate, concentrating on facts, explanations or both. Council publicity should, as far as possible, avoid controversial issues or report proposals that could be identified with individual Members or groups. However, the Council may respond to any events and enquiries providing the answers are factual and not party political.
Events providing photo and publicity opportunities should, where possible, be timed to avoid the election period. Where this is not possible, it is better not to involve any candidates or likely candidates for election.
Members holding key political or civic positions should be able to comment in emergency situations, or where there is a genuine need for a Member-level response to an important event.
Individual Members’ Own Publicity
It is possible that Members may be involved in campaigns and generate or participate in generating party-political publicity in support of a candidate or a party. Anything done by Members otherwise than in their capacity as councillors is not a matter for the Council. However, Members need to be aware of the need to avoid doing anything that could bring their office into disrepute or involve a breach of the law. They should also consider how any publicity they issue deals with any equality and diversity issues applicable to them.
Decision-making/Council meetings
There is no statutory restriction on making decisions or holding Council meetings during the election campaign. Officers can continue to act and make decisions on a ‘business as usual’ basis.
However, taking account of the restrictions in relation to publicity set out in the previous section, the potential for party-political advantage or disadvantage and the potential risk of allegations of bias and pre-determination (in particular planning and licensing), non-urgent controversial matters are better avoided during the pre-election period.
There is therefore a broad convention that matters of political controversy either locally or nationally should not be brought before Members if at all avoidable during the pre-election period. There is otherwise a risk that a decision could be made (or be seen to have been made) on party political grounds rather than on its merits, and would therefore be challengeable.
Use of council facilities
The Members’ Code of Conduct provides that Members must not use Council resources for political purposes. Any services or facilities provided for Members should be used exclusively for the purposes of Council business or to enable the Member concerned to discharge their function as a councillor. This applies to all facilities, including:
- Council stationery
- IT
- Officer support
- Postal services
- Telephones and fax machines
- Transport
The following are examples of cases where the use of Council facilities would NOT be appropriate:
- Using the internal/external Council postal service to distribute election campaign material;
- Using Council letterheads or compliment slips in sending out election material or as part of election campaigning;
- Including election messages, strap-lines or slogans in letters that are otherwise being legitimately sent (e.g. for information purposes) on Council letterheads to local residents;
- Sending out election material using a Council email address – see paragraph below for more detail;
- Putting election material on or canvassing via the Council’ website;
- Including election campaign material in Council envelopes containing Council business-related matters.
- Using Council’ telephones for canvassing.
Use of council premises
The use of Council premises is subject to the same rules as those relating to facilities outlined above.
However, during the pre-election period sections 95-96 and schedule 5 of the Representation of People Act 1983 entitle candidates to use Council meeting rooms and rooms in schools in the relevant electoral area for furtherance of their candidature. Further information on these arrangements may be obtained from the Electoral Services Office.
The Council is not permitted to develop or apply any policy for discriminating between candidates or political parties in the way that Council premises are made available.
It is not acceptable for any Council events to be held on political party premises at any time.
Visits by candidates or other politicians
During the days leading to local or national elections, officers often receive an increased level of requests from potential candidates or individuals associated with political parties to facilitate a visit to Council-owned premises or venues. Such visits tend to be associated with photo opportunities and press publicity intended (or which may appear to the public as intended) to promote a candidate or their party. It is important that the Council’s approach to dealing with such requests complies with the law and codes of recommended practice as well as being transparently fair and consistent.
The starting point is always the Local Government Act 1986 and the Code of Recommended Practice on Local Authority Publicity. These prohibit a council from engaging in any publicity that appears to be designed to affect public support for a political party. The prohibition applies not only to direct publicity by the Council, but extends to providing financial or other support to such publicity. Facilitating a visit to Council premises by an election candidate or a high profile political figure associated with media coverage near the election always risks breaching these rules. Such requests should therefore be handled with care. With this in mind, any such requests should be dealt with in accordance with the following guidance.
All requests for visits or for use of premises from likely election candidates, their agents, political personalities or political parties shall be referred to [INSERT NAME, POST TITLE AND CONTACT DETAILS], who will keep a record of such requests received and the decision taken.
A decision on such requests shall be taken by the relevant Director or Head of Service in accordance with the principles set out in this guidance, who shall inform the requester of the decision, after taking guidance from the Chief Executive (as Returning Officer), if appropriate. Where the position is unclear, the advice of the Monitoring Officer shall be sought.
Presumption against facilitating political events: any request from a candidate or a political personality or political party shall normally be declined unless the request comes within one or more of the categories in the following paragraphs:
- Legal right to use premises
- Use as a member of the public
- Commercial hire
- Official ministerial visit
- Meeting requested by tenants or schools
Candidate’s legal right to use premises: An election candidate is entitled by law to use Council meeting rooms and rooms in schools and other premises in the relevant constituency free of hire charge. They shall however be required to cover the expenses associated with using the premises (e.g. gas, electricity, security, etc) and be responsible for cleaning it afterwards. Officers will have the discretion to waive the cost of expenses where these are minimal or collecting the charge would result in administrative cost and inconvenience that is disproportionate to the expense.
Candidates as members of the public: Candidates, their agents and political personalities may visit any Council premises that are accessible to members of the public, provided the premises are used only for the purposes for which members of the public are ordinarily entitled to use them. For example, any candidate can visit a library or a museum. They would not, however, be entitled to do anything within the premises other than activities which are consistent with ordinary and usual use of the premises by the public. For example, they could not turn up with a film crew and be photographed greeting visitors inside the library or museum. They could stand on part of the highway and greet people as they come into or leave the premises, provided there is no obstruction of the highway and their actions do not amount to public nuisance.
Access to Council offices: Officers should be careful not to allow any election candidate, a political agent or a person associated with a political party, access to Council offices not normally accessible to members of the public, unless the individual is a Council Member and they need to access the offices for authorised purposes (such as for a meeting with an officer).
Commercial hire: Where a Council venue is available for commercial hire, nothing shall prevent a candidate or a party from hiring such a venue in accordance with normal hiring arrangements, provided the candidate or the party is not given any preferential treatment as compared to any other commercial hirers of the venue.
Official ministerial visit: Where there is an official request from a government department (as opposed to a political party) for a ministerial visit in connection with functions of the Council that are within the remit of the minister, such requests shall be accepted and facilitated. Care should be taken to ensure that the event does not become a political campaigning event.
Tenants’ request: Where there is a request from tenants or residents of Council premises to arrange meetings with candidates in communal rooms, then consent should normally be given, provided that:
- Use of the facilities must be in line with normal rules for the premises;
- No election material should be displayed on the communal parts of the premises (this shall not preclude the posting of a notice giving details of the time, place and name of the candidate attending on the notice boards for the premises);
- Any publicity for the meeting shall make it clear that it was a tenant or resident (as opposed to Council or Officer) who has arranged the meeting;
- Any other tenant or resident shall be allowed the same facility to invite any other candidate of any other parties to a meeting.
Schools: The Head Teacher and the Governing Body of schools are responsible for the management of the school, including taking decisions on visits. However, Local Education Authority advice is that requests for visits should not be granted unless the Head Teacher is of the view that the visit in itself would be a useful experience/learning opportunity for pupils at the school and the same facility is extended to other political parties.
This is intended as a general guidance and without prejudice to considering individual requests on their merit. If the particular circumstances of a case justify a departure from the general approach as set out above, the agreement of the Chief Executive (as Returning Officer) should be sought.
Special rules relating to officers
Officers at all levels should not engage in party political activity that compromises their neutrality and objectivity at work. Officers should not display any election material in the office or at work. Officers who hold politically restricted posts (generally senior officers, those who advise Members or speak on behalf of the Council) are subject to additional restrictions. They must not:
- Canvass in the interests of any political party
- Speak or publish any written or artistic work with the intention of affecting public support for a political party
- Hold office in a political party or act as an election agent or sub agent
Any violation of the above statutory requirements constitutes a breach of their contract and may lead to disciplinary proceedings against the officers concerned.
General
If you would like any further guidance or information in relation to the issues covered in this note, please contact:
- [INSERT NAMES, POST TITLES AND CONTACT DETAILS]
Geoff Wild is a Legal and Governance Consultant. He is celebrating his 40th anniversary as a local government lawyer.
This is the latest in a series of articles Geoff has written – previous contributions include: