Broadcasting (Hansard, 11 February 1999)

§ Mr. Michael

We propose to apply in the Assembly Elections Procedure Order provisions equivalent to those in section 92 of the Representation of the People Act 1983 which regulates broadcasting from outside the United Kingdom designed to influence voters in an election campaign.

We have consulted the political parties and broadcasters about including in the Order provisions equivalent to those in section 93 of the 1983 Act and have concluded that it is impracticable in the context of party list elections to apply that section. Broadcasters will therefore simply be bound to fulfil the normal requirements of fair and balanced coverage in reporting particular constituency or regional contests. The broadcasters have been working on new guidelines to cover the circumstances of the coming elections and all have agreed to respect those guidelines. The Government intend to review the situation after the elections in the light of experience during the campaign.

Section 93 of the Representation of the People Act 1983 lays down restrictions on broadcasting items about constituency campaigns during parliamentary elections; a broadcast focusing on a constituency may be vetoed by any candidate contesting that constituency. The original purpose of section 93 was to try to ensure equal treatment to candidates in the same electoral area. The broadcasters believe that section 93 is outdated (from a time when there were usually no more than 2 or 3 candidates per constituency) and inhibits their ability to provide meaningful coverage at election times. In an Assembly election, the section 93 provisions would enable any one of the list candidates in an electoral region to veto a broadcast about the campaign in that region.

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Section 93 was not applied for the elections to the Northern Ireland Assembly. When we consulted on the draft Elections Procedure Order in October, we drew specific attention to the fact that we were proposing not to apply section 93 and invited comments. Only one political party responded, expressing mild concern but not outright opposition. The only other respondents were the broadcasters who were wholeheartedly in favour of non-application.