Issue of official petition notice
18.—(1) For the purposes of section 8 of the Act (notice of petition to be sent to registered electors) the petition officer must send to electors and their proxies an official petition notice in accordance with this regulation.
(2) Where an elector has appointed a proxy to sign the petition, the petition officer must send an official petition notice to both the elector and the elector’s proxy.
(3) An official petition notice must not be sent to a person registered, or to be registered, in pursuance of an overseas elector’s declaration.
(4) An elector’s official petition notice must be sent or delivered to the elector’s qualifying address.
(5) A proxy’s official petition notice must be sent or delivered to the address which—
(a)is shown as the proxy’s address in the list of proxies; or
(b)in the case of a proxy for an elector with an anonymous entry in a register maintained by the Chief Electoral Officer for Northern Ireland, would be so shown but for regulation 56(4) (absent signing lists: Northern Ireland).
(6) The official petition notice must—
(a)in respect of electors who may sign the petition in person, be in the form set out in Form D in Schedule 2;
(b)in respect of electors who may sign the petition by post, be in the form set out in Form E in Schedule 2;
(c)in respect of a proxy who may sign the petition in person, be in the form set out in Form F in Schedule 2; and
(d)in respect of a proxy who may sign the petition by post, be in the form set out in Form G in Schedule 2.
(7) The official petition notice must set out—
(a)the name of the MP who has become subject to the petition process;
(b)the name of the constituency of that MP;
(c)the recall petition condition that has been met in relation to that MP;
(d)the elector’s name, qualifying address and number on the register;
(e)the dates of the beginning and end of the signing period;
(f)the situation of the elector’s petition signing place allotted to them under regulation 16 (allotment of petition signing place) and the days and hours during which the petition will be available for signing at that place;
(g)such other information as the petition officer considers appropriate.
(8) Different information may be provided under paragraph (7)(d), (f) and (g) to different electors or descriptions of electors.
(9) In the case of an elector with an anonymous entry, instead of containing the matters mentioned in paragraph (7)(d) the official petition notice must only include the elector’s number in the register.