§ Mr. Wigleyasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department what categories of employees in the public sector are debarred from either standing as candidates or operating as election agent in the area in which they work by the nature of the involvement by their employment dictates in the mechanism of the election procedures.
§ Mr. JohnBy virtue of Section 80(l)(a) of the Local Government Act 1972, registration officers and returning officers and their staffs are disqualified from being elected a member of the local authority which employs them. It is also an offence under Section 86(1) of the Representation of the People Act 1949 for a returning officer or any officer or clerk appointed under the election rules to act as agent of a candidate.