Political Parties and Elections Act 2009: Chapter 12 explanatory notes

Format:

Corporate Author:

Great Britain

Publisher:

TSO (The Stationery Office)

These explanatory notes refer to the Political Parties and Elections Act 2009 (c. 12) (ISBN 9780105412090) which received Royal assent on 21st July 2009. The main purposes of the Act are to: (a) ptrengthen the regulatory role of the Electoral Commission through making available to it a wider range of investigatory powers and sanctions, through clarifying its advisory role and through reforming its governance arrangements; (b) add a 'pre-candidacy' spending limit to regulate candidate spending when a Parliament runs for over 55 months; (c) put in place arrangements to improve the transparency of donations to political parties and other entities subject to the controls on donations put in place by the Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act 2000 ("the 2000 Act"); and (d) provide for the phased implementation of individual electoral registration in Great Britain, with additional identifying information (National Insurance (NI) number, date of birth, signature) being provided on a voluntary basis by those wishing to register from 2010 to 2015, and on a compulsory basis from 2015, subject to a positive recommendation by the Electoral Commission and Parliament that the system is ready for the change. The Act also makes several other reforms, including to the current system for administering elections in the United Kingdom, which are designed to better ensure the successful delivery of elections in the future and to strengthen the regulatory system for political party finance and expenditure.