There is a thing called election purdah which applies to local and central government during the election period, although nobody I ever spoke to about it in local government actually understood what it meant, and its limits are very poorly defined.
In response to the OP - I do not believe there is any law that prevents the discussion of politics on polling day - as evidenced by the fact all mainstream media outlets are carrying the election as their main story.
The reason purdah is difficult to enforce is that it is essentially an administrative convention that doesn’t really have force of law. There are are certain laws you might break if you failed to observe purdah, and some grounds (eg misfeasance in office) on which you might be found liable, but you’d have to be going some. The reason nobody knows the legal limits of purdah is that it doesn’t really have any, and there is extreme suspicion in the civil service community of attempts by politicians to assert that purdah means X or Y.
“A lot of people who are not public sector seem to have absolutely no idea what it is”
Back when I used to know a lot of people in local government, none of them really knew what it was either.
I mean your statement of the principle is broadly correct, but broad is the operative word. What does “politically sensitive” mean? Then there is the lack of legal force. Section 2 (?) of LGA86 is often cited, but that doesn’t cover anything like the range of things that people seek to suppress on the grounds of purdah.
The whole idea should probably be abolished tbh
don't you think it would be terrible if we didn't have purdah? there would likely be all sorts of strategically released govt announcements/reports. The whole point is to prevent the govt of the day using the power of govt to help win an election.
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Do you mean in the media?
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There is a thing called election purdah which applies to local and central government during the election period, although nobody I ever spoke to about it in local government actually understood what it meant, and its limits are very poorly defined.
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https://www.local.gov.uk/sites/default/files/documents/9.131%20Purdah%20guidance%20update_09.pdf
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yes in the media, when is the ban lifted and I am still unclear why it exists and what the sanctions are for breaching it
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as I recall, people like Bernard jenkin actually had to fight to get purdah observed for the 2016 referendum.
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So the media can talk about politics yesterday, but not today, weird
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wtf u europhobes really will make up any old shit to twist the narrative in a desperate attempt to justify how disgraceful ur campaign was
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I'm not a 'europhobe'
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?? yeah sure
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Purdah is the period between the election being called and the new Government being formed.
During this time Government departments are not permitted to release any documents that could be seen as politically sensitive.
This is almost certainly why the report on Russian interference in previous elections / the 2016 referendum has NOT been released.
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escaping puppy achieves peak mansplain
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A lot of people who are not public sector seem to have absolutely no idea what it is.
Further, a lot of people in general seem to have no idea what it is- as evidenced by repeated calls to publish the report on Russian interference.
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I got v over excited when I saw someone described as “former MP for xxx” on their we work for you page before remembering purdah rules
(lots of the bastards posting politics on their social media today)
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In response to the OP - I do not believe there is any law that prevents the discussion of politics on polling day - as evidenced by the fact all mainstream media outlets are carrying the election as their main story.
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The reason purdah is difficult to enforce is that it is essentially an administrative convention that doesn’t really have force of law. There are are certain laws you might break if you failed to observe purdah, and some grounds (eg misfeasance in office) on which you might be found liable, but you’d have to be going some. The reason nobody knows the legal limits of purdah is that it doesn’t really have any, and there is extreme suspicion in the civil service community of attempts by politicians to assert that purdah means X or Y.
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Sadly govt doesn't use the term Purdah anymore. It's all "pre-election period" shizzle.
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“A lot of people who are not public sector seem to have absolutely no idea what it is”
Back when I used to know a lot of people in local government, none of them really knew what it was either.
I mean your statement of the principle is broadly correct, but broad is the operative word. What does “politically sensitive” mean? Then there is the lack of legal force. Section 2 (?) of LGA86 is often cited, but that doesn’t cover anything like the range of things that people seek to suppress on the grounds of purdah.
The whole idea should probably be abolished tbh
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BTW if the OP was a reference to a ban on media discussion of politics on polling day, the answer is quite simple. Such ban does not exist.
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Laz, GMB said they were explicitly prevented from discussing the election, apart from to say it is today!
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Laura K just reported big queues at polling stations she has asked them all and they all voting tory,
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by their own internal policy perhaps
there is a specific ban on reporting how people have voted, opinion polls etc until after the polls close
but just discussing shit that politicians have said, and so on? Not banned.
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"The whole idea should probably be abolished tbh"
don't you think it would be terrible if we didn't have purdah? there would likely be all sorts of strategically released govt announcements/reports. The whole point is to prevent the govt of the day using the power of govt to help win an election.
or did I misunderstand you?
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If it is to be retained I think it should be clearly codified and given proper force of law.
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