Political

Banksy election gift offer runs into legal problems

The Bristol Post reports that the artist Banksy,

has offered a free print of one of his most famous artworks to Bristolians – but only if they vote against the Tories.

The world-famous street artist is offering the free gift to registered voters in constituencies formerly represented by Conservative MPs.

The Bristol street-artist wrote: “… This limited edition artwork on archival quality paper is completely free, but is only available to registered voters in the Bristol North West, Bristol West, North Somerset, Thornbury, Kingswood and Filton constituencies.

“Simply send in a photo of your ballot paper from polling day showing you voted against the Conservative incumbent and this complimentary gift will be mailed to you.”

This scheme has, however, run into immediate legal problems with the Electoral Commission warning it may result in people being investigated by the police:

Given the risk that someone taking a photo inside a polling station may be in breach of the law – whether intentional or not – the Electoral Commission advice is against taking any photos inside polling stations.

Aside from the legal problems with taking photos in polling stations, there are two other legal problems with the scheme.

First, it encourages people to reveal how they voted. That runs counter to the ban under Section 66 of the 1983 Representation of the People Act on “directly or indirectly induc[ing] a voter to display his ballot paper after he has marked it so as to make known to any person the name of the candidate for whom he has or has not voted”.

Second, despite the disclaimer from Banksy that the gift is “complimentary” and of no monetary value, it is still a gift and one that’s likely to have rather more than a £0 resale value. That could cause problems with the bribery provisions under Section 113 of the 1983 Representation of the People Act.

UPDATE: And now the offer is gone.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

All comments and data you submit with them will be handled in line with the privacy and moderation policies.