The Electoral Commission has been forced into a climbdown over its guidance on the Lobbying Act, according to an alliance of organisations of who campaigned for changes to the rules.

The Transparency of Lobbying, Non-party Campaigning and Trade Union Administration Act 2014, comes into effect next week and will determine how charities can campaign in the run up to national elections.

Melanie Carter, head of the public and regulatory law team for Bates Wells and Braithwaite, was involved with a group of sector bodies campaigning for changes to the Electoral Commission’s guidance on the Lobbying Act, along with 38 Degrees, Bond and Acevo.

“38 Degrees wrote to the Electoral Commission about three weeks ago and the Commission made some changes as a result,” Carter told Civil Society News.

“In our view, it was a climbdown as they made important clarifications to the guidance. But there is still some way to go before it becomes useful guidance for campaigners. We were arguing that parts of it were incorrect in law.  The Electoral Commission changed the guidance in accordance with what we were arguing,” she said. 

The new guidelines clarify that campaigning activities are likely to be classed as regulated activity if they can be seen as potentially influencing voters.

“In a nutshell these changes made it crystal clear that campaign expenditure will only be regulated if on an objective basis, the third party’s aim behind the expenditure would be viewed as intended to influence voting one way or the other,” said Carter.

The Lobbying Act has caused controversy in the industry with some sector experts saying it will have a detrimental effect on charity campaigning and others arguing that it may not be as onerous as first thought.

“I think that the sector needs to be cautious about reassurance given about the effect of the Lobbying Act,” said Carter. “The Electoral Commission isn’t an island and could be subject to outside pressure, for instance by a ream of politically motivated complaints.  It might be obliged to investigate. The sector is facing a very uncertain landscape and it’s not right to be complacent.”