Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act 2000

Returns of election expenses

7 (1) Section 81 (return as to election expenses) shall be amended as follows.

(2) In subsection (1) for the words from “in the form” onwards there shall be substituted “containing as respects that candidate—

(a) a statement of all election expenses incurred by or on behalf of the candidate; and

(b) a statement of all payments made by the election agent together with all bills or receipts relating to the payments.”

(3) For subsection (2) there shall be substituted—

“(2) A return under this section must—

(a) specify the poll by virtue of which the return is required;

(b) specify the name of the candidate to whom the return relates and of the candidate’s election agent; and

(c) deal under a separate heading with any expenses in respect of which a return is required by virtue of section 75(2) above.”

(4) In subsection (3)—

(a) for paragraph (a) there shall be substituted—

“(a) a statement of all payments made—

(i) by the candidate in accordance with section 74(1) or (1B) above, or

(ii) by any other person in accordance with section 74(3) above,

together with all bills or receipts relating to any such payments made in accordance with section 74(1B) or 74(3);”, and

(b) for paragraph (d) there shall be substituted—

“(d) any declarations of value falling to be made by the candidate’s election agent by virtue of section 74A(2) above or 90C(2) below;

(da) a declaration of the amount of expenses which are to be regarded as election expenses incurred by or on behalf of the candidate by virtue of section 90A(5)(b) below;

(e) a statement of donations made to the candidate or his election agent which complies with the requirements of paragraphs 11 and 12 of Schedule 2A to this Act; and

(f) a statement of the amount, if any, of money provided by the candidate from his own resources for the purpose of meeting election expenses incurred by him or on his behalf.”

(5) Subsection (4) shall be omitted.

(6) In subsection (7), the words from “; and” onwards shall be omitted.

(7) After subsection (10) there shall be inserted—

“(10A) The Electoral Commission may, by regulations, prescribe a form of return which may be used for the purposes of making any (or any description of) return required by this section.”

(8) Subsection (11) shall be omitted.

8 Section 82(4) (person before whom declaration as to elections expenses may be made) shall be omitted.

9 After section 87 there shall be inserted—

“87A Duty of appropriate officer to forward returns and declarations to Electoral Commission

(1) Where the appropriate officer receives any return or declaration under section 75, 81 or 82 above in respect of —

(a) a parliamentary election, or

(b) an election of the Mayor of London,

he shall as soon as reasonably practicable after receiving the return or declaration deliver a copy of it to the Electoral Commission and, if so requested by the Commission, he shall also deliver to them a copy of any accompanying documents.

(2) Where the appropriate officer receives any return or declaration under section 75, 81 or 82 in respect of any election other than one mentioned in subsection (1) above, he shall, if so requested by the Electoral Commission, deliver to them a copy of the return and any accompanying documents.”

10 For section 89(1) (inspection of returns and declarations) there shall be substituted—

“(1) Where the appropriate officer receives any return or declaration under section 75, 81 or 82 above he shall—

(a) as soon as reasonably practicable after receiving the return or declaration make a copy of it, and any accompanying documents, available for public inspection at his office, or some other convenient place chosen by him, for a period of two years beginning with the date when the return is received by him;

(b) if requested to do so by any person, and on payment of the prescribed fee, supply that person with a copy of the return or declaration and any accompanying documents.

(1A) If any such return contains a statement of donations in accordance with section 81(3)(e) above, the appropriate officer shall secure that the copy of the statement made available for public inspection under subsection (1)(a) above or (as the case may be) supplied under subsection (1)(b) above does not include, in the case of any donation by an individual, the donor’s address.”

11 In section 90 (election expenses at elections where election agent not required)—

(a) in subsection (1)(a), for “section 76(1) above has” there shall be substituted “section 76(1B) above and sections 90A(5) and 90C below have”;

(b) in subsection (1)(b), for “sections 72 to 75 and 78 to 89 above” there shall be substituted “sections 71A to 75 and 78 to 89 above, and Schedule 2A to this Act,”;

(c) for subsection (1)(c) there shall be substituted—

“(c) section 76A(2) has effect as if it referred, in substitution for the provisions set out in paragraphs (a) to (c) of that subsection, to paragraph 3 of Schedule 4 to this Act.”; and

(d) in subsection (2) for “sections 72 to 89” there shall be substituted “sections 71A to 89”.