Biography information for Lord Pearson of Rannoch – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Biography information for Lord Pearson of Rannoch on 2016-04-18.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government how they reconcile printing and delivering their pamphlet Why the Government believes that voting to remain in the European Union is the best decision for the UK to every household in the UK, with the statement by the Minister of State for Europe, Mr David Lidington, on 7 September 2015 that we have no intention of legislating to allow the Government to do things such as mailshots

Baroness Anelay of St Johns

As the full excerpt below shows, the statement referred to by the Noble Lord relates to conduct and activity during the final 28 days of the referendum period, which are covered by the provisions of section 125 of the Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act 2000. The Government will comply fully with these provisions.

“Instead, new clause 10 provides a power to make regulations to exempt particular categories of publication from section 125. Any such regulation would need to be approved by an affirmative resolution in both Houses. We have also adopted the recommendation of the Political and Constitutional Affairs Committee that the Government should consult the Electoral Commission before any such regulation is made.

While I understand the constructive intention behind the suggestion made by the hon. Member for North Down (Lady Hermon), I think that at the end of the day the Government must be free to go to Parliament and ask whether it accepts or rejects a particular proposal. The safeguard here is that if Government new clause 10 is accepted tonight, both Houses will have the right to veto anything that the Government might bring forward under this new provision.

Let me explain the kind of things I have in mind. They include, for example, modernising the press notice exemption, which is already in section 125, to take account of digital media, by making it clear that it is permissible to link to a press notice from a website or a social media site; allowing the publication of a document on government.uk; or clarifying that material passed on to the print or broadcasting media would be acceptable. None of those things is clear at the moment. Let me repeat that we have no intention of legislating to allow the Government to do things such as mailshots, paid advertising or leafleting.”