Campaign groups play an important role in our political process, helping inform policy making and allowing different views to be heard from across society. The Government is clear that we want this to continue, and our aim is to take the big money out of politics. Limiting campaign spending during an election will help the UK avoid the situation we see in other countries, where unregulated spending by vested interests can have an excessive and unfair impact on election results. It has long been the case that political parties have had their spending during elections regulated and it is reasonable and fair to regulate the spending of third parties who campaign for a particular outcome in an election.
The amount an organisation can spend campaigning for electoral success during an election period will be limited to £390,000 across the UK. The Government believes this is still a very substantial sum and is a proportionate figure. Expenditure on these campaigns will be fully recorded and disclosed.
At present, charities can undertake political activity where the trustees can show that it supports their purposes and would be an effective use of their resources. The law prohibits charities from engaging in party politics, party political campaigning, supporting political candidates or undertaking political activity unrelated to the charity’s purpose.
The Bill does not change this. Charities will still be able to support specific policies advocated by political parties if it would help achieve their charitable purposes. However, Ministers listened to the concerns raised by the sector and they undertook to see if the Bill could be made even clearer. Consequently, unless a third party engages in activity intended to promote or procure the electoral success of a party or candidate, its actions in relation to policies or views will not be regulated. The Leader of the House, Andrew Lansley, has now set out how the legislation will be made even clearer for campaigners. This can be found online here:
www.gov.uk/government/news/statement-on-amendments-to-the-transparency-bill
The Government is therefore very clear that an organisation campaigning only on policy issues is not included in the changes introduced by the bill. I hope you have been reassured that this Bill will not prevent or prohibit campaigning but will make the system more transparent.
The Government is therefore very clear that an organisation campaigning only on policy issues is not included in the changes introduced by the bill. I hope this provides reassurance that this Bill will not prevent or prohibit campaigning but will make the system more transparent.