Representation of the People Act 1983

Supplemental

116 Rights of creditors

The provisions of this Part of this Act prohibiting—

(a) payments and contracts for payments,

(b) the payment or incurring of election expenses in excess of the maximum amount allowed by this Act; or

(c) the incurring of expenses not authorised by the election agent,

do not affect the right of any creditor, who, when the contract was made or the expense was incurred, was ignorant of that contract or expense being in contravention of this Act.

117 Savings as to parliamentary elections

(1) Where a person has been declared by others to be a candidate at a parliamentary election without his consent, nothing in this Part of this Act shall be construed to impose any liability on that person, unless he has afterwards given his assent to the declaration or has been nominated.

(2) Nothing in this Part makes it illegal for an employer to permit parliamentary electors or their proxies to absent themselves from his employment for a reasonable time for the purpose of voting at the poll at a parliamentary election without having any deduction from their salaries or wages on account of their absence, if the permission—

(a) is (so far as practicable without injury to the employer's business) given equally to all persons alike who are at the time in his employment, and

(b) is not given with a view to inducing any person to record his vote for any particular candidate at the election, and

(c) is not refused to any person for the purpose of preventing him from recording his vote for any particular candidate at the election,

but this subsection shall not be construed as making illegal any act which would not be illegal apart from this subsection.

118 Interpretation of Part II

In this Part of this Act, unless the context otherwise requires—

• " appropriate officer" has the meaning given by section 67(7) above;

• "candidate"—

  (a)

  in relation to a parliamentary election, means a person who is elected to serve in Parliament at the election or a person who is nominated as a candidate at the election, or is declared by himself or by others to be a candidate on or after the day of the issue of the writ for the election, or after the dissolution or vacancy in consequence of which the writ was issued;

  (b)

  in relation to an election under the local government Act, means a person elected or having been nominated or having declared himself a candidate for election, to the office to be filled at the election;

• " committee room " does not include any house or room occupied by a candidate as a dwelling, by reason only of the candidate transacting business there with his agents in relation to the election, and no room or building shall be deemed to be a committee room by reason only of the candidate or any agent of the candidate addressing in it electors, committee members or others;

• " date of the allowance of an authorised excuse " has the meaning given by section 86(8) above, or paragraph 7 of Schedule 4 to this Act, as the case may be;

• " declaration as to election expenses " means a declaration made under section 82 above, or, as the case may be, paragraph 3 of Schedule 4 to this Act;

• " disputed claim " has the meaning given by section 79(1) above as extended by section 80 above;

• " election expenses" in relation to an election means expenses incurred, whether before, during or after the election, on account of or in respect of the conduct or management of the election;

• " money " and " pecuniary reward " shall (except in sections 113 and 114 above) be deemed to include—

  (a)

  any office, place or employment, and

  (b)

  any valuable security or other equivalent of money, and

  (c)

  any valuable consideration, and expressions referring to money shall be construed accordingly;

• " payment" includes any pecuniary or other reward;

• " personal expenses " as used with respect to the expenditure of any candidate in relation to any election includes the reasonable travelling expenses of the candidate, and the reasonable expenses of his living at hotels or elsewhere for the purposes of and in relation to the election;

• " return as to election expenses " means a return (including the bills and receipts to be transmitted with it) to be made under section 81(1) above, or, as the case may be, paragraph 3 of Schedule 4 to this Act.

119 Computation of time for purposes of Part II

(1) Where the day or last day on which anything is required or permitted to be done by or in pursuance of this Part of this Act is any of the days mentioned in subsection (2) below—

(a) the requirement or permission shall be deemed to relate to the first day thereafter which is not one of those days; and

(b) in computing any period of not more than 7 days for the purposes of this Part any of the days so mentioned shall be disregarded.

(2) The days referred to in subsection (1) above are—

(a) a Sunday;

(b) a day of the Christmas break, of the Easter break, or of a bank holiday break; and

(c) a day appointed for public thanksgiving or mourning.

(3) In this section—

• "bank holiday break" means any bank holiday under the [1971 c. 80.] Banking and Financial Dealings Act 1971 (in England and Wales, in Scotland or in Northern Ireland, as the case may be) which is not included in the Christmas break or the Easter break and the period beginning with the last weekday before that bank holiday and ending with the next weekday which is not a bank holiday under that Act,

• " Christmas break " means the period beginning with the last weekday before Christmas Day and ending with the first weekday after Christmas Day which is not a bank holiday,

• " Easter break" means the period beginning with the Thursday before and ending with the Tuesday after Easter Day,

but so much of this subsection as includes in a bank holiday break a period before and after a bank holiday does not apply in Scotland or Northern Ireland to a bank holiday which is not also a bank holiday in England and Wales, except in Scotland New Year's Day.