Election 2005: campaign spending - Electoral Commission

13party contesting all seats was £18,840,000. Thenumber of candidates put forward by each partyis given in Appendix B.Categorising party and candidates expenses2.10 In defining party campaign spending,PPERA specifies that any spending reported ina candidate’s return should be excluded fromthe party’s return. 2 The Commission recognisesthat there is often a fine line between party andcandidates’ spending. Our guidance states that‘any material that is promoting the party as awhole’ should be construed as party campaignspending while ‘any material that promotes acandidate or group of candidates’ should beconstrued as candidates’ expenses. 32.11 If a party is fielding only one candidate,the Commission’s guidance recommends thatany spending by the party should be treatedas candidate’s expenses, unless it was clearlyparty campaign spending, for example aparty manifesto.Analysis of returns2.12 Although 119 parties contested the election,only 40 spent money on party campaigning. Inreviewing parties’ returns, we identified that someerroneously reported candidates’ spending asparty spending. A list of parties erroneouslyreporting spending can be found in Table A2.2.13 In 2001, 36 of the 80 parties that contestedthe election reported to the Commission thatthey had incurred campaign expenditure.2 Section 72(7) of PPERA.3 Campaign expenditure: guidance for political partiesDetails of the campaign spending reported to theCommission by each party that contested the2005 general election are contained in Appendix B.2.14 Parties are subject to limits on theirspending in each area of Great Britain and inNorthern Ireland. None of the parties exceededthe spending limits at the 2005 election.2.15 Table 2 (see overleaf) shows campaignspending by the 11 parties that had at least onecandidate elected to the UK Parliament.2.16 Figures 1–4 (see pages 15–16) comparespending for the 2001 and 2005 general electionsrespectively in England, Scotland, Wales, andNorthern Ireland for parties with elected MPs. The2001 figures have not been adjusted for inflation.2.17 Table 3 (see pages 18–19) provides thepercentage breakdown of spending by the 11parties that had at least one candidate electedat the 2005 general election. The categories ofexpenditure are as set out in Schedule 8 toPPERA. Actual spending figures are providedin the returns in Appendix B.Spending in different areas of the UK2.18 Parties are required to apportion and reporttheir spending by area across the UK. Table 4(see page 18) compares party spending in 2001and 2005 in each area of the UK. 4 The 2001figures have not been adjusted for inflation.2.19 Tables 5–8 (see pages 20–22) show theamount spent respectively in England, Scotland,Wales and Northern Ireland by each of theparties contesting seats in the respective areathat incurred campaign spending there.(2004) The Electoral Commission. 4 See paragraph 2.5 for information on comparisonsbetween 2001 and 2005 general elections.Elections 2005: campaign spending: campaign spending by political parties