MK demands Party Election Broadcast

On behalf of Mebyon Kernow – the Party for Cornwall, I have responded to a consultation by the Broadcasters’ Liaison Group about Party Election Broadcasts (PEBs) at the 2015 General Election.

In previous General Elections, MK has been denied PEBs because the threshold guidelines have specified that a “political party will qualify for one PEB” if it stands in a “minimum of one sixth of the seats up for election” in one of the “home nations” of England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales.

In order to be allowed a Party Election Broadcast, MK would therefore need to stand in a total of 89 seats across “England.”

I have described the situation as absurd. How can it be fair that MK – a Cornish political party – would need to stand in all six seats in the historic nation of Cornwall, as well as a further 83 seats outside of Cornwall, in order to be allowed a broadcast?

By contrast, political parties in Northern Ireland, Wales and Scotland would only have to stand in three, seven and ten seats respectively. And this has meant that, over the last few years, a host of political parties – including the Christian Party (Wales), Scottish Green Party, Scottish Socialist Party and the Scottish Trade Union and Socialist Coalition – have been allocated airtime.

Mebyon Kernow – the Party for Cornwall has requested that the Broadcasters’ Liaison Group agree that genuine “regional” or “national” parties which stand candidates in a majority (or all) of the seats in a particular area be allowed an election broadcast.