Political

Electoral Commission recommends near 40% increase in constituency spending limits – but they’ll cover a longer period

Running through to mid-December is an Electoral Commission consultation on updating election expense limits for UK Parliamentary elections and also for English and Welsh local elections.

For general elections, the combined impact of inflation and an increase in the length of the Parliamentary timetable since the last review in 2005 means the Electoral Commission is recommending an increase in the formula that works out at an average rise of just under 40% in the spending limit for the short campaign (the period immediately running up to polling day). The new formula would be a base amount of £10,550 plus 6p per vote in borough constituencies or 9p per voter in county constituencies.

This increase of just under 40% is however rather less than the 47% increase in the length of time due to be covered by the short campaign in 2015.

Changes to the Parliamentary timetable with fixed term Parliaments mean that the long campaign will now last for a shorter period, so the Electoral Commission’s recommendations work out at a 10% cut for that limit (on average from £29,350 to £26,450).

Meanwhile for local elections, the recommendation is to keep the same base amount but increase the per register entry part of the limit from 5p to 6p. On average, that will work out at an increase of 6% in the local limits over the limit that was introduced in 2005.

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