Citation and commencement

1. This Order may be cited as the Greater London Authority Elections (Election Addresses) Order 2003 and shall come into force on the day after it is made.

Interpretation

2. In this Order—

“the 1983 Act” means the Representation of the People Act 1983( 5 );

“the 1999 Act” means the Greater London Authority Act 1999;

“the PPER Act” means the Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act 2000( 6 );

“the Authority” means the Greater London Authority;

“candidate” means, unless the context otherwise requires, a person who stands nominated as a candidate for the office of Mayor at the election;

“election” means, unless the context otherwise requires, an election for the return of the Mayor at an ordinary election;

“election address” shall be construed in accordance with article 4;

“election booklet” shall be construed in accordance with article 7;

“elector” in relation to an “election”—

“the GLRO” means the Greater London returning officer;

“individual candidate” means a candidate other than a list candidate;

“list candidate” means a person included on a party list;

“party list” means a list submitted to the GLRO in accordance with paragraph 5 (party lists and individual candidates) of Part II of Schedule 2 to the 1999 Act on behalf of a party registered under Part II (registration of political parties) of the Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act 2000;

“print” means print by whatever means (and “printer” shall be construed accordingly);

“registered political party” means a party which is registered under Part II (registration of political parties) of the PPER Act at the latest time by which the notice of election is required to be published;

“universal service provider” has the same meaning as in the Postal Services Act 2000( 8 ).

Mayoral candidate’s right to delivery of an election address

3. Each candidate at an election shall be entitled (subject to and in accordance with the provisions of this Order) to have an election address prepared on behalf of the candidate included in an election booklet prepared by the GLRO delivered at the Authority’s expense.

Election address

4. An election address, in relation to a candidate, is a statement prepared by the candidate’s election agent which complies with the provisions of articles 5 and 6.

Contents of election addresses

5. —(1) An election address must contain matter relating to the election only.

(2) In particular, an election address must not contain—

(a) any advertising material (other than material promoting the candidate as a candidate at the election); or

(b) any material referring to any other candidate or to a candidate for election to the Assembly; or

(c) any material appearing to the GLRO—

(i) to be included with a view to commercial gain; or

(ii) to be indecent, obscene or offensive; or

(iii) to be such that its publication or distribution would be likely to amount to the commission of an offence.

(3) An election address may include a representation of the registered emblem( 9 ), or (as the case may be) one of the registered emblems, of a registered political party, if the address is prepared on behalf of an authorised party candidate.

(4) In paragraph (3) above “authorised party candidate”, in relation to a registered political party, means a candidate who has been authorised to use the emblem in question by a certificate—

(a) issued by or on behalf of the registered nominating officer of the party, and

(b) received by the GLRO before the last time for the delivery of nomination papers for the election.

(5) An election address must—

(a) contain a statement to the effect that it has been prepared by the candidate’s election agent; and

(b) give the name and address of the election agent.

Form of election addresses

6. —(1) Subject to any requirements imposed by or under this article, the format of a candidate’s election address may be determined by the candidate (and, in particular, may consist of a combination of words, pictures and artwork).

(2) An election address must be printed on not more than two sides of A5 paper, but if such an address is printed on two sides of such paper—

(a) it must, when submitted to the GLRO for inclusion in the election booklet, be accompanied by a second version printed on a single side of such paper; and

(b) if the total number of candidates from whom election addresses have been accepted by the GLRO by the last time for the delivery of nomination papers for the election exceeds 15, the version to be included in the election booklet shall be the second version.

(3) An election address must—

(a) comply with such requirements as to typographical layout, margins and the use of colour as the GLRO may specify; and

(b) comply with such other requirements as he may specify with a view to facilitating its reproduction as a page or pages of the election booklet.

(4) An election address must, when submitted to the GLRO for inclusion in the election booklet, be accompanied—

(a) where the address is to contain a photograph of the candidate, by two identical copies of the photograph, of which one is signed on the back by the candidate; and

(b) in any case, by such copies of anything contained in the address as the GLRO may reasonably require in connection with the reproduction of the address.

The election booklet

7. —(1) The election booklet is a document prepared by the GLRO which contains the election addresses of all candidates who—

(a) desire their election addresses to be included in the booklet, and

(b) have submitted—

(i) those addresses, and

(ii) any additional material required under article 6(4) above,

to the GLRO by such date as he may determine.

(2) If—

(a) it appears to the GLRO that any of the requirements of articles 5 and 6 above have not been complied with in relation to an election address, or

(b) a candidate fails to make the payment required by article 10 below in respect of an election address,

the GLRO shall decline to include the address in the election booklet.

Form of election booklet

8. —(1) The order in which the candidates' election addresses appear in the election booklet shall be determined by lot drawn by the GLRO.

(2) The election booklet shall include, in addition to candidates' election addresses, a statement by the GLRO—

(a) giving the date of the election and explaining the nature and purpose of the election booklet;

(b) listing all the candidates for the office of Mayor (whether or not their election addresses are included in the booklet), in the order they are to appear on the ballot paper( 10 );

(c) listing all the candidates at the ordinary election for the return of London members by—

(i) the names of the registered political parties that have been nominated (including thereunder the names of list candidates appearing in the order in which they appear on the party list); and

(ii) the names of individual candidates;

in the order they are to appear on the ballot paper( 11 );

(d) listing all the candidates at the ordinary election for the return of constituency members, in alphabetical order by constituency and with the names of candidates for each constituency in the order they are to appear on the ballot paper( 12 ).

(3) The GLRO shall include in a listing of candidates under paragraphs (2)(b) to (d) any description of the candidate as stated on his nomination paper.

(4) The election booklet may also include such other information as the GLRO is required or permitted by or under any enactment to publish in the booklet.

(5) The election booklet must—

(a) contain a statement that it has been published by the GLRO; and

(b) give the name and address of the GLRO and those of the printer of the booklet.

(6) Subject to paragraphs (1) to (5) above, the form of the election booklet shall be determined by the GLRO.

(7) The election agent of each candidate whose election address has been accepted by the GLRO for inclusion in the booklet shall be given an opportunity to attend at a time and place notified to him by the GLRO in order to check, and submit to the GLRO typographical corrections to, the proof of the candidate’s address, by such time as the GLRO may require.

(8) If the election agent of any such candidate fails to avail himself of that opportunity, the GLRO may—

(a) make such typographical corrections to the proof as appear to him to be appropriate; and

(b) proceed with the printing and distribution of the election booklet without further reference to the candidate or his election agent (and without incurring any liability for any errors in the candidate’s address).

(9) No person other than—

(a) the candidate in respect of whom an election address is included in the election booklet, or

(b) the candidate’s election agent,

shall incur any civil or criminal liability in respect of the publication of that address in the election booklet or its dissemination in accordance with article 9 below.

Distribution of election booklets

9. —(1) The GLRO shall cause copies of the election booklet to be addressed and delivered to each elector at the Authority’s expense.

(2) The election booklets shall be delivered by—

(a) a universal service provider;

(b) any other holder of a licence under Part II of the Postal Services Act 2000 which permits the holder of the licence to convey such booklets from one place to another( 13 );

(c) any means of conveyance and delivery for which a licence is not required, pursuant to section 7 of the Postal Services Act 2000.

(3) The GLRO may in addition disseminate the contents of the election booklet by—

(a) the publication by the GLRO of the contents on a website;

(b) making copies of the booklet available to anyone who makes a request to the GLRO for such copies;

(c) making the contents available, so far as practicable, in large print, in Braille, and on audio tape, to anyone who makes a request to the GLRO for a copy of the contents in such a format;

(d) making copies of the booklet available at—

(i) the offices of the Authority, the London Development Agency, the Metropolitan Police Authority, the London Fire and Emergency Planning Authority, and Transport for London;

(ii) the offices of London borough councils and the Common Council of the City of London;

(iii) public libraries.

Contributions by candidates towards cost of printing

10. —(1) Each candidate by whom an election address is submitted to the GLRO for inclusion in the election booklet shall pay the sum of £10,000 to the GLRO as a contribution towards the expenses incurred by him in respect of the printing of the election booklet.

(2) The payment required by paragraph (1) above shall be made at such time, and in such manner, as the GLRO may determine.

(3) A candidate shall be entitled to a full refund of any such payment if, but only if, the candidate has given notice of withdrawal of his candidature before the last time for the withdrawal of candidates.

(4) If the total amount of the payments made by candidates under this article exceeds the total amount of the expenses incurred by the GLRO in respect of the printing of the election booklet, the GLRO shall—

(a) divide the amount of the excess between those candidates in equal shares, and

(b) send to each of those candidates a payment in respect of his share.

Contributions to printing cost as candidates' election expenses

11. —(1) The amount of any payment made by a candidate under article 10 above (or if paragraph (4) of that article applies, the net amount of any such payment after deducting the payment under that paragraph) shall be taken, for the purposes of Part II of the 1983 Act (the election campaign), to be an amount of election expenses incurred by the candidate in relation to the election.

(2) Nothing in section 75(1) of the 1983 Act (restriction on third party expenditure) shall be taken to apply, in relation to any candidate, to any expenses incurred by the GLRO in consequence of the provisions of this Order.