“Purdah” – the period when all serving councillors (and their supporting officers) have to stop placing party politically-targeted stories and photographs about their party-politically motivated actions in newspapers, journals etc when they involve using council resources and not their party resources.
No more “politically sensitive” press releases, no more pictures taken by press officers of our local majority party councillors doing what they do best .. er .. though not sure what that is!
Expect a raft of mutual back-patting stories and press releases of local do-gooding in this week’s local and regional newspapers!
Once again, here is our guide to what can and cannot be done during this period.
The first question to ask is ‘could a reasonable person conclude that you were spending public money to influence the outcome of the election?’ In other words it must pass the ‘is it reasonable’ test. When making your decision, you should consider the following:
You should not:
• produce publicity on matters which are politically controversial
• make references to individual politicians or groups in press releases
• arrange proactive media or events involving candidates
• issue photographs which include candidates
• supply council photographs or other materials to councillors or political group staff unless you have verified that they will not be used for campaigning purposes
• continue hosting third party blogs or e-communications
• help with national political visits (as this would involve using public money to support a particular candidate or party). These should be organised by political parties with no cost or resource implications for the council.
East Devon Watch 