eurealist.co.uk

The real North East No Campaign is keeping up the pressure on the government which seem incapable of obeying even its own electoral rules.

Tony Blair is so frightened of loosing the first of his referendums on regional assemblies, that with only a few weeks to go before the people have a chance to decide the issue, he is sending in the big guns to bolster flagging support for Professor John Tomaney`s Labour backed Yes campaign. But as picked up by Christopher Booker in the Telegraph, by doing so he is breaking the rules for a fair referendum. As the body which is supposed to oversee the parties do not break the rules (the Electorial Commision) seem to be sitting on their hands, the job is being left to the NESN Campaign.

From the NENC Website

“Who paid for the Ministers to speak as Labour Party Members?”

If the Electoral Commission will not do their job and ask the difficult questions of the ODPM, then we will. We may have to go back down the legal route again, but it is important that this is exposed in advance of any referendum on the European Constitution. The rules MUST be clear, and since the Electoral Commission is spineless and useless, it is down to members of the public.
The ODPM, because there is a referendum very imminent have a duty to respond within 24 hours, especially as we are a Permitted Participant in the referendum.

Below is a link to the e-mail sent Friday afternoon.

E-mail from Neil Herron to Jessica Matthew
Regional Assembly Division
ODPM:

Christopher Booker’s Notebook: “Prescott flouts democratic rule

John Prescott is so keen to secure a Yes vote in next month’s referendum on an elected regional assembly for the North-East that, last week, he and two other ministers, Gordon Brown and Peter Hain, were out on the campaign trail. (As Mr Brown put it in Newcastle, ‘I believe that a Yes vote would be good for the people and the businesses in the North-East.’)

On Thursday Neil Herron of the North-East No campaign lodged an official complaint with the Electoral Commission. He pointed out that the politicians’ visit was in clear breach of the Referendums Act 2000, which rules that Ministers of the Crown may not actively campaign to promote a specific result within 28 days of the start of polling in a referendum. At the same time he asked the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister to explain why ministers appeared to be breaking the law.

He was told that they were not campaigning in their capacity as Deputy Prime Minister, Chancellor of the Exchequer and Leader of the House, but simply as Labour MPs (although this was not how their presence in the North-East was reported). When Mr Herron asked whether they had used ministerial transport to travel to the North-East, no explanation was forthcoming.

Perhaps the Electoral Commission, which has a statutory duty to ensure that the law is observed, would like to investigate, with a view to possible prosecution?”

And then again perhaps they would not?