With a general election scheduled for Thursday 12 December, the official election period, known as purdah, began at 00:01 (today) Wednesday 6 November and runs until the end of polling day.
Political Impartiality
The University is not a public body and is therefore not covered by purdah rules, however much of our research is funded by UKRI which is covered as an ‘arm’s length’ public body. UKRI supported research should not, during the purdah period, publish any material which, in whole or in part, appears to be designed to affect public support for a political party or which competes with parliamentary candidates for the attention of the public during the election campaign.
The University must ensure its political impartiality is maintained at all times. During an election campaign we may receive requests from election candidates or local councillors to attend the University, we need to respond carefully to these requests in order to maintain impartiality.
The University will seek to offer equal opportunities to all candidates and parties. We should not endorse events which are seen to actively support one candidate over another. When organising hustings events, the University will aim to comply with electoral commission guidance on non-selective events; this guidance allows impartial reasons to exclude some candidates, for example because of resource availability or security concerns. If requests are received for visits by political parties to the University during purdah all should be treated equally.
Should any political visits take place during this time, the University should be careful when publicising them. While we can reference/record an event through tweeting or posting factual news articles, we should consider how much space and prominence to give it to avoid implying support for a candidate or party. We should also treat all candidates in the same way.
The University should also be careful about expressing explicit support or opposition for party policy announcements. The University can comment but the communication needs to be very clear and specific about the issues/benefits of the policy and not denounce/support the party responsible for it.
There are likely to be politically active staff and students at the University. Everyone is free to contribute to political debate in a personal capacity if they choose. However, we need to ensure that there is not a conflict of interest or any potential confusion about whether an individual is speaking on behalf of the University or for themselves. Any political communications should be made in a personal capacity.
If you have any questions, please contact the Public Affairs Team:
Information for researchers
Academics are not restricted from commenting on new research or answering media queries about breaking science news, however, when commenting during the purdah period they should do so under their University affiliation. Whilst we should act with caution, our research activity should continue and articles should still be published.
UKRI has published guidance here.
