Leadership of the No to EU Campaign

In the coming months the Electoral Commission will be deciding who to “designate” as “Leader” of the “No” Campaign in the EU referendum. The Leader of the campaign will also get the public funding for the Campaign of about £1,000,000!

Below is what the Electoral Commission say are the rules. I expect that the Electoral Commission will however be looking to appoint a Leader who they think is credible enough to pass muster but not credible enough to win! That is what John Prescott tried to do in his North East Assembly Referendum. The Electoral Commission no doubt now forgets that it is the Minister who appoints them!

“There is a statutory test in PPERA that the Commission must apply when assessing applications for designation:

* If there is more than one applicant for an outcome, the Commission shall designate whichever of the applicants appears to the Commission to represent to the greatest extent those campaigning for that outcome.

When we assessed applications for the Referendum on Independence for Scotland, we used a decision making process to apply a test, based on the criteria set out below. Based on the legislation for the referendum on the UK’s membership of the European Union as it is currently drafted, we expect the Commission to take similar consideration into account during the designation process for the EU referendum.

* How the applicant’s objectives fit with the referendum outcome it supports

* The level and type of support for the application

* How the applicant intends to engage with other campaigners

* The applicant’s organizational capacity to represent those campaigning for the outcome, and

* The applicant’s capacity to deliver their campaign (including its financial probity)”