The Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government has been accused of breaching the spirit of purdah rules after announcing towns deal money to Cornwall during local government’s politically restricted period as Boris Johnson made a pre-election visit to the county.
MHCLG yesterday trumpeted a £23.6m package for Truro to “boost the local economy, create jobs and improve local skills, helping the county build back better from the pandemic” - just one month before Cornwall has all-out elections.
Although
local government’s purdah period of pre-election restrictions began on 29 March at the latest, civil service guidelines are different. While the “period of sensitivity” is “not fixed to any particular date”, the guidelines state “general convention is that special care should be taken in the three weeks preceding the elections – in this case from 15 April 2021”.
While this date is still a week away - with a ministry spokesperson telling LGC purdah has "not yet begun" - some perceived its communications were being used for political purposes, with its press release carrying a quote from Mr Johnson stating: “We are determined to level up across the entire country, and the deal we’re announcing for Truro will help to unleash its tremendous potential.”
The release coincided with the prime minister's visit to the key local election battleground which saw him photographed in a series of archetypal electioneering scenes, posing with a toy tiger, eating a Cornish pasty and licking an ice cream, with the latter action meriting the local newspaper headline “Boris Johnson gives ice cream in Cornwall a big thumbs up during visit”.
The Conservative party confirmed on Twitter that the visit was part of its local elections campaign.
One Cornwall Council source noted the discrepancy that councillors cannot currently be quoted by councils in communications while Mr Johnson could at the same time take credit for developments in the county.
“The current government feels it is fine for them to make political announcements in the pre-election period. It seems this government will take any political opportunity it can for self-advancement, whatever the long-term consequences are for democracy. This looks to us to be both a breach of the rules and the spirit of purdah, but I guess if you're
a government that takes no notice of breaches of its' own ministerial code, then this is your modus operandi."