Advice FAQ Articles

What is council group recognition for? Council group recognition is a process that was introduced by the English Liberal Democrats in 2011. It was brought…

Introduction Contributions or tithing is the process by which elected representatives give a portion of their expenses or salary to support the party and its…

This advice is designed to help councillors understand what they need to do to comply with all current data protection legislation including the General Data…

How much do Councillors get paid? All principal authorities (i.e. higher than Town and Parish) have some sort of allowances scheme (a small number of…

Where there is more than one candidate to be elected most ballot papers will have more than one X, but not all! This needs a…

What small print do you need? All literature – both inside and outside election time – should carry an imprint. The Newspapers, Printers and Reading…

Casework People whose addresses you have purely because they contacted councillors with casework should not then be written to for other purposes e.g. to solicit…

Deadlines and delivery of the nomination paperwork The deadline for delivery of nomination papers is absolute, and is indicated in the timetable issued by the…

What do I do if one of my councillors is going to defect away from us? Occasionally, for a whole host of reasons, people will…

How does it all work? This law ensures only official Liberal Democrat candidates are allowed to call themselves Liberal Democrats (or one of our other…

Digital imprints The legal situation over the use of imprints on websites, in emails, on Facebook and so on is annoyingly vague as it is…

What is ‘Direct Mail’? Direct mail is when you send an addressed letter to an elector about a specific issue or campaign. Why use ‘Direct…

Disqualifications for Local Candidates There are some groups of people who cannot be local government candidates even if they meet one of the qualifications for…

We deliver leaflets till our shoes are worn out, now-a-days we also deliver letters, send emails and update our blogs and twitter feeds, but there…

Different limits are set for each type of election. The format is a flat rate, plus an amount per elector except for parliamentary by-elections. The…

Election Petitions Bringing an election petition is the only way you can directly challenge the result of an election, once declared. These are very rare…

Candidate eligibility can be a complex area with some less than obvious rules making it difficult to decide whether someone can stand for election or…

Endorsements (also known as vox pops) are a common way for successful campaigns to repeat their key messages. In the same way that many successful…

Expenses limits Expenses for a Parliamentary by-election vary from those for General Elections and stand at £100,000. Expense limits for local government by-elections are the…

Filling in the local election nomination paper It is a legal requirement to fill in the top of the nomination paper before getting signatures of…

Multiple elections on the same day Simultaneous elections This is when a local and Parliamentary election or parish election occurs on the same day. The…

Make a budget and keep it updated The agent should make sure every campaign has a proper budget, because: The agent is personally liable for…

The agent’s role in the eyes of the law Control of election expenses is seen in law as one of the key responsibilities of the…

Whether you call them ‘paper’ (because they’re there as names on a ballot) or ‘paperless’ (because we aren’t delivering leaflets and letters for them), every…

The biggest challenge Liberal Democrat campaigners often have is attracting enough helpers to deliver a winning campaign. To make the most of your campaign team…

Not all of us find it easy to find people to stand as councillors. But finding the right candidates, to provide a strong representative team…

Fly posting and what to do about it Putting posters on property without the owner’s permission is illegal. If opponents fly post warn them of…

What is a Focus? A Focus leaflet is a local newsletter containing local news and information from the local Lib Dem team. It is typically…

Format of the register Order of electors Registers must be divided into polling districts, with a letter code given to each polling district and then…

Functions of the counting agents There are several important jobs to be performed that require concentration, good eyesight and knowledge of the rules and the…

How do I raise money to pay for my campaign? Lib Dems Local Parties raise funds from a range of sources. Some of the common…

Election Communications Your entitlement Free delivery of an unaddressed leaflet to every household in the electoral area or an addressed item to every elector is…