Election candidates’ spending limits slashed to £3,000

Maximum expenditure has been cut to £3,000, a reduction of 50% on the limit at the last election in 2020. Sacc proposed raising the previous figure in line with inflation, to £7,500, after the States had agreed earlier this year that it should be frozen at £6,000 but directed the committee to carry out further investigations. But deputies voted 19-18 for an amendment led by Steve Falla which will impose the much lower limit at the June 2025 election.

‘The perception of somebody without access to £7,500 could be that it is too expensive to put one’s name forward and risk losing it if unsuccessful. It’s an election, not a night at the roulette table,’ said Deputy Falla.

Many deputies said in debate that they wanted the election to be open to candidates unable to run expensive campaigns. However, the Assembly rejected a late attempt to re-introduce a £500 States grant to candidates which was originally set up to assist anyone less well-off who wanted to stand for election.

Some members argued that it would be wrong for deputies who had been permitted to spend up to £6,000 at the 2020 election now to set a much lower limit which they felt would make it harder for candidates to communicate with voters next year.

But Deputy Falla told the Assembly that about 26 of the candidates elected four years ago spent less than £3,000 on their campaigns.

‘The Guernseyman and woman is unapologetically shrewd and careful with their money, not wasteful or spendthrift, and it’s unsurprising that this approach was adopted by candidates who were reflecting the Guernsey spirit and the Guernsey way of doing things,’ he said.

‘Do candidates really need to spend up to £7,500 to get their message across to electors, and what does that say about their attitude to spending public funds when it comes to making decisions in this Assembly if elected?’

He said a spending limit of £3,000 was adequate given that the States would also send voters a booklet of candidates, as it did in 2020.

But there was criticism that the reduced spending limit would prevent candidates from independently sending their own manifesto to voters. It was claimed that this would increase the influence of election material organised and sponsored by the States as well as social media.

‘You can only use the government handbook,’ said Deputy Al Brouard.

‘We, the cabal, will advise you how you will present, the size and clarity and number of pictures you can use, whether you can show your pets, the size and type of font and where in the cabal’s handbook we will allow your name to be placed.

‘We will not allow you to visit the electorate as the time we set will not permit you to visit every household. You will be forbidden from sending out your own manifesto as the cabal is nervous that it will not have control of what and how you present to the public.

‘In all seriousness, we need to allow individuals who want to stand to do so freely and with sufficient resources to be able to get their message across with or without the cabal’s handbook.’

There was also criticism that the £3,000 limit set for the 2025 island-wide election will be lower in real terms than the spending limit at the last election held in districts, in 2016, when each candidate was communicating with many fewer voters.

The States also agreed to equalise spending limits on individual candidates and political parties.