Tories protest over Smith announcements
The Conservatives have filed a complaint against home secretary Jacqui Smith and other ministers relating to election rules.
Nominations have closed for May 1st’s local and London elections and the Tories believe the Purduh rules preventing politicians in government from saving “juicy announcements” have been breached.
Ms Smith is due to announce an extra 300 police jobs specifically devoted to tackling the terrorist threat later today.
This, the Conservatives argue, constitutes an attempt to “scoop” the May 1st vote as it involves using civil service resources “to influence elections”.
The Tories believe ministers are attempting to “grab headlines and mislead the public”.
Shadow communities and local government secretary Eric Pickles has made a formal complaint to Cabinet secretary Sir Gus O’Donnell as a result.
“It is clear that Labour ministers have intentionally broken Cabinet Office rules in an attempt to create a political smokescreen,” he said in the complaint.
“They are trying to hide the fact that police authorities across the country are now axing the number of police officers, while hiking the police levy on council tax bills.”
Guidance issued on March 20th by the Cabinet Office suggests a balance should be struck between delaying political announcements until after the election and any negative effect this may have.
“Particular care should be taken over official support, and the use of public resources, including publicity, for ministerial announcements which could have a bearing on matters relevant to the local elections,” it says.
“In some cases it may be better to defer an announcement until after the elections but this would need to be balanced carefully against any implication that deferral could itself influence the political outcome.”
