For the Scottish and Welsh Parliament elections, the ‘regulated period’ began on 6 January and runs until election day. 6 May.  During this period, anything we spend to promote the Party counts towards our campaign spend, must be with our spend limits and be declared to the Electoral Commission after the election.

This includes spend by local Parties and branches and it includes items or services bought before the ‘regulated period’ but used during it.

Campaign spend includes:

• Advertising such as street banners, websites and videos
• Unsolicited material sent to voters (but not members)
• Events (but not if these are only open to members)

For a full list and more explanation, see pp 18-33 here (Scotland) or pp 14-31 here (Wales).

Please make sure you keep a record of any spend and send full details to Dorota Kseba, including invoices or receipts, by 30 June.

Check with Karen Wilkie if you are not sure if something should be included.

Spending by the Co-operative Party (at any level) that relates to individual candidates or constituencies must be declared by the candidate on their donation and spend return.

Please check the costs and confirm with candidates in advance of any promotional spend or campaigning on their behalf so that they are aware of it and can be make sure that it won’t cause them to exceed their candidate spend limit.

There is no spend limit on promoting the Party in London but anything we do that identifies a candidate or electoral area is called ‘local spend’.  We can spend up to £50 plus 0.5p per elector without authorisation from the candidate – any more than that needs written authorisation from the candidate and will count towards their candidate spend.

If we do something that is distributed nationally or regionally but features a candidate, we must do a fair estimate of the proportion of the costs attributable to that candidate’s electoral area.

We must report any spending authorised by the candidate to the returning officer within 21 days of the election being declared, as well as being included on the candidate’s spend return.  The declaration must also include the written authorisation from the candidate for the spend.

Please ensure that you forward all details to Karen Wilkie by 14 May.

There is no spend limit on promoting the Party during the PCC, mayoral and councillor elections but anything we do that promotes a candidate or electoral area is called ‘local spend’.  For mayoral and councillor candidates, we can spend up to £50 plus 0.5p per elector without seeking permission from the candidate.  For PCC candidates, the limit varies per authority – see p.34 of the guidance here.

If it is more than this, we must obtain written authorisation from the candidate, and this will count towards their candidate spend.

If we do something that is distributed nationally or regionally but features a candidate, we must do a fair estimate of the proportion of the costs attributable to that candidate’s electoral area.

We must report any spending authorised by the candidate to the returning officer within 21 days of the election being declared, as well as being included on the candidate’s spend return.  The declaration must also include the written authorisation from the candidate for the spend.

Please ensure that you forward all details to Karen Wilkie by 14 May.

If your Party or branch receives a donation during the election campaign, please report it to Karen Wilkie in the quarterly return as usual.  If it is £500 or more and isn’t from your Society, report it straight away as we have to check that the donor is permissible.

If your Party or branch makes a donation, this must be reported by the candidate.  Remember that donations can include non-financial support such as use of offices, printing or campaign materials bought on their behalf.

Anything that promotes the Party, in print or on line, must have an imprint to say who is promoting the material and on whose behalf e.g. Printed by [printer’s name and address], Promoted by [agent’s name and address], on behalf of [candidate’s name and address].   For Party materials, the promoter will usually be Joe Fortune at the Party’s address.

For the elections to the Scottish Parliament, new rules have come into force that apply across the UK.  If you are a Party Council treasurer or second officer (usually the secretary) or an elected representative (MP, councillor etc) you cannot be regarded as acting in a personal capacity and if you publish materials advocating support for a candidate in the Scottish Parliament elections it must have an imprint.  See here for more information.