Special rules covering pre-election periods
The period between the notice of an election and the election itself is particularly sensitive and publicity should not deal with controversial issues or report views, proposals or recommendations in such a way that identifies them with individual councillors or groups of councillors.
This means that during this period:
Proactive publicity:
- caution must be exercised in the use of proactive publicity especially on contentious topics
- we must avoid proactive publicity in all its forms of candidates and other politicians involved directly in the election
- proactive events arranged in this period should not involve members likely to be standing for election
- publicity must be factual not party political
Reactive publicity:
- we may continue to quote appropriate councillors (including the Lord Mayor) in response to events or external enquiries, but only where the nature of the event or enquiry properly calls for such a response
- such responses must also be factual, so as not to allow people to infer we are promoting the views of a single political party
It is important to note that these restrictions apply to council funded publicity. This does not affect the ability of individual candidates to use their own resources to publicise themselves prior to any election, subject of course to the rules regarding election expenses and their declaration. The council’s Deputy Returning (Monitoring) Officer will provide written guidelines at the time of any relevant elections and should be consulted for advice for the appropriate approach on a case-by-case basis.