PART 6OFFENCES

Prohibition of paid canvassersI1132

1

If a person is, either before, during or after a petition, engaged or employed for payment or promise of payment as a canvasser for the purpose of promoting or procuring the success or failure of the petition—

a

the person so engaging or employing that person, and

b

the person so engaged or employed,

is guilty of illegal employment.

2

A person guilty of an offence under paragraph (1) shall, on summary conviction, be liable to a fine; and on a prosecution for such an offence it shall be sufficient to allege that the person charged was guilty of illegal employment.

3

Where an MP (apart from this paragraph) is guilty of an offence under paragraph (1), they are instead guilty of an illegal practice.

4

Any person charged with an offence of illegal employment may be found guilty of that offence, notwithstanding that the act constituting the offence amounted to a corrupt or illegal practice.