Commentary on Sections Schedule 3: Controlled expenditure: qualifying expenses Section 28: Changes to existing limits
75.Subsection (3) amends section 94(5) of PPERA so that a third party wishing to spend £20,000 in England or £10,000 in each of Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales must register as a recognised third party with the Electoral Commission in accordance with section 88 of PPERA. A third party spending in excess of these thresholds without having registered as a recognised third party commits an offence. These replace the existing registration spending thresholds of £10,000 in England or £5,000 in each of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
76.Subsections (2) and (4) set a further registration limit at an amount equal to the constituency limit (see section 29) – 0.05% of the maximum campaign expenditure limit for political parties. The maximum campaign expenditure limit is defined as the limit imposed by paragraph 3 of Schedule 9 to PPERA and currently amounts to a total of £19.5 million (£30,000 x 650 constituencies). The constituency limit therefore amounts to £9,750. This threshold applies in all parts of the United Kingdom and only applies in regulated periods involving a UK Parliamentary General election. If a third party incurs expenditure in a particular constituency in excess of £9,750, it commits an offence: either the offence for a recognised third party of exceeding the constituency limit (introduced by section 29 of this Act), or the offence under this provision of exceeding the constituency threshold without being a recognised third party.
77.Subsection (7) amends paragraph 3(2) of Schedule 10 to PPERA so that a recognised third party can spend 2% of the maximum campaign expenditure limit in England, and 2% plus £20,000 in each of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.. The table below shows the maximum amount of controlled expenditure that a recognised third party is permitted to incur in each part of United Kingdom: