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Wednesday 13 April 2016

Is Mayor Joe Anderson committing 'purdah' offences?

Liverpool's Mayor, Joe Anderson has made a "second major announcement this week, coming just days after he announced plans to build 10,000 new ‘rent to buy’ homes across Liverpool to help young families get on the housing ladder."

Mayor Joe Anderson has published a letter that he has sent to the Secretary of State, in which he says, "should I be returned as Mayor", "it is my intention to explore a bid by Liverpool to be the host city for the Commonwealth games in 2026"

The pre-election restrictions are governed by Section 2 of the Local Government Act 1986,as amended in 1988.

Essentially councils should “not publish any material which, in whole or in part, appears to be designed to affect public support for a political party.”

Publicity is defined as “any communication, in whatever form, addressed to the public at large or to a section of the public.”

Government advice on 'purdah' states:

"It would be inappropriate for the post holder of Mayor to speak on controversial issues or those associated with a particular political party and care should be taken about using photos from such events if any members are standing for election."

"Do not publish any publicity on controversial issues or report views on proposals in a way which identifies them with individual councillors or groups of councillors."

"Publicity relating to individuals involved directly in the election should not be published unless expressly authorised by statute"

http://www.local.gov.uk/purdah



Stock photography by Huyton Freeman at Alamy

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