Communities secretary Eric Pickles has announced a consultation on town hall publicity rules in a further clampdown on ‘town hall Pravdas’.
According to DCLG officials, Pickles is seriously concerned that a ‘rogue number’ of authorities continue to ignore the Coalition’s code of recommended practice on local authority publicity by publishing ‘political propaganda’.
Restrictions which apply to broadcast media, overseen by the regulator Ofcom which recently found Tower Hamlets LBC to have breached , do not apply to print advertising.
In the light of this, today’s consultation seeks views on drawing up new legislation to prevent local authorities publishing their own newspapers, hiring lobbyists and commissioning publicity with a political slant.
Communities secretary Eric Pickles said: ‘Some councils are undermining the free press and wasting taxpayers' money which should be spent carefully on the front line services that make a real difference to quality of life.
‘It should not, under any circumstances, be used to fund political propaganda and Town Hall Pravdas and yet a hardcore minority of councils continue to ignore the rules despite public concern.
‘The line in the sand is clear, publicity material straying into propaganda clearly crosses that line, and this legislation will stop this disgraceful misuse of public money, which damages local democracy and threatens an independent, free and vibrant local press.’
