Page 282 - Law and the Media

Parliamentary Proceedings and Elections
Similarly, advertising aimed at advancing a particular candidate is not permitted. However,
the law allows advertising directed at advancing the general interests of a political party. The
following are examples of the distinction:

In R v Tronoh Mines Ltd & Others (1952) it was held that newspaper
advertisements condemning the financial policies of the Labour Party, which
appeared during an election, were not illegal because they did not relate to any
particular constituency. The court ruled that the law:

. . . does not prohibit expenditure, the real purpose or effect of which is general
political propaganda, even although that general political propaganda does
incidentally assist a particular candidate among others.

The same conclusion was reached in The Labour Party v News Group Newspapers
(1987). An organization calling itself the Committee for a Free Britain had, in the
middle of an election campaign, placed anti-Labour Party advertisements, which
focused on the views of ‘Betty Sheridan from Haringey’ and ‘Mark Jenks from
Mansfield’. The Labour Party sought an injunction to restrain their republication.
The judge found that because the particular wording of the advertisements ‘only
made sense in the national context there was no breach of Section 75 of the
Act’.

Where expense is incurred primarily to oppose rather than support a candidate, it will be
illegal. In DPP v Duffield & Another (1976) and DPP v Luft & Another (1977), money was
spent on publicity and literature encouraging people in three individual constituencies not to
vote for National Front candidates. The House of Lords confirmed that if the dominant
motive is to oppose one candidate, it inevitably follows that expense is intended to secure the
election of one or other of his opponents.

16.3.3 Broadcasting controls

Section 93 of the Representation of the People Act 1983 places complicated controls on
programmes broadcast during an election that concentrate on a particular constituency.

Candidates are given significant powers to control programmes about their own constituency.
Their rights can be summarized as follows:

Every candidate in the relevant constituency must consent to the transmission of a
programme
All candidates who take an active part in the programme have ‘copy control’ – in
other words, the right to edit in or edit out their own contributions to the
broadcast.
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