The Scottish Parliament (Elections etc.) Order 2010

Control of donations to candidates

36.—(1) In the case of a candidate for return as a constituency member or an individual candidate for return as a regional member at a Scottish parliamentary election, any money or other property provided (whether as gift or loan)—

(a) by any person other than the candidate or the candidate’s election agent, and

(b) for the purpose of meeting election expenses incurred by or on behalf of the candidate,

must be provided to the candidate or the candidate’s election agent.

(2) Paragraph (1) does not apply to any money or other property so provided for the purpose of meeting any such expenses which may be lawfully paid by a person other than the candidate, the candidate’s election agent or any sub-agent.

(3) A person who provides any money or other property in contravention of paragraph (1) shall be guilty of an illegal practice.

(4) The provisions of Schedule 2A to the 1983 Act(1) (control of donations to candidates), and regulations made under paragraph 10(2) of that Schedule(2) (statement of relevant donations) apply for the purposes of Scottish parliamentary elections as they do for the purposes of parliamentary elections, subject to the following modifications.

(5) References to a candidate are to be construed as references to a candidate for return as a constituency member or an individual candidate for return as a regional member.

(6) References to election expenses are to be construed as references to election expenses within the meaning of article 58 (meaning of election expenses).

(7) In paragraph 6(8)(a) for “the statutory maximum” substitute “level 5 on the standard scale” and for “12 months”(3) substitute “3 months”.

(8) In the provisions specified in paragraph (9), for “statutory maximum” substitute “Level 5” and for “12 months” substitute “3 months”.

(9) Those provisions are the entries in Schedule 20 to the 2000 Political Parties Act relating to—

(a) section 56(3) or (4) (failure to retain documents) as applied by paragraph 7 of Schedule 2A to the 1983 Act; and

(b) section 61(1) (facilitating the making of donations by impermissible donors), section 61(2)(a) (knowingly giving treasurer false information about donations) and section 61(2)(b) (withholding information about donations from treasurer with intent to deceive) as applied by paragraph 9 of Schedule 2A to the 1983 Act.

(10) In paragraph 8(10)(a), for “section 67(1) or (1A) of this Act” substitute “article 32 of the Scottish Parliament (Elections etc.) Order 2010 (appointment of election agent)”

(11) In paragraph 10(1)(4) for “section 81 of this Act” substitute “article 47 of the Scottish Parliament (Elections etc.) Order 2010 (return as to election expenses: constituency and individual regional candidates)”.

(12) In this article and Schedule 2A to the 1983 Act (as applied by this article) “property” includes any description of property, and references to the provision of property accordingly include the supply of goods.

(1)

Schedule 2A was inserted by the 2000 Political Parties Act, section 130 and Schedule 16.

(2)

Paragraph 10(2) was inserted by the 2006 Act, Schedule 1, paragraph 16. See regulation 45G of the 2001 Regulations (added by S.I. 2007/925).

(3)

See the Criminal Proceedings Reform (Scotland) Act 2007 (asp 6), section 45.

(4)

Paragraph 10(1) was numbered as such by the 2006 Act, Schedule 1, paragraph 16.