European Union Referendum Bill — Schedule 1 — Publication of Campaign Material by Government and Public Bodies — 16 Jun 2015 at 18:00

The majority of MPs voted to allow central and local government to publish campaigning material in the run-up to the referendum on if the United Kingdom should remain a member of the European Union.

The provisions also apply to public bodies.

MPs were considering the European Union Referendum Bill^[1].

The amendment rejected in this vote was:

• Amendment 11, page 17, line 37, leave out paragraph 25 and insert—
• “25 (1) Section 125 of the 2000 Act (restriction of publication etc of promotional material by central and local government etc) applies in relation to the referendum during the referendum period with the following modification.
• (2) Section 125(2)(a) of the 2000 Act has effect for the purposes of the referendum as if, after ‘Crown’, there were inserted ‘including ministers in the Scottish Government, the Welsh Government, the Northern Ireland Executive and Her Majesty‘s Government of Gibraltar’.”

An explanatory note accompanying the amendment stated:

• The purpose of the amendment is to apply the "purdah" arrangements that govern ministerial and official announcements, visits and publicity during general elections to the campaign period before the referendum.

Paragraph 25 of Schedule 1 which the amendment sought to replace^[2] began:

• Section 125 of the 2000 Act (restriction on publication etc of promotional material by central and local government etc) does not apply in relation to the referendum.

Section 125 of the Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act 2000 which is referred to prevents any Minister of the Crown, government department or local authority; or any other person or body whose expenses are defrayed wholly or mainly out of public funds or by any local authority publishing material about a referendum in the period of 28 days before the poll.

The materials which the Act applies to are those which:

• provide general information about a referendum
• deal with any of the issues raised by any question on which such a referendum is being held;
• put any arguments for or against any particular answer to any such question; or
• are designed to encourage voting at such a referendum.

Exceptions include the publication of information relating to the holding of the poll and information published in response to a specific request for that information.

• [1] Parliament's web page on the European Union Referendum Bill
• [2] Version of Bill as at the time of the vote containing Schedule 1 paragraph 25 which the rejected amendment sought to remove

Debate in Parliament | Source |