Communications with the Constitutional Research Council
Dear Electoral Commission,
There has been much coverage in the press about donations made to the Democratic Unionist Party, during the EU referendum (2016), by the Constitutional Research Council (CRC). See, for example, https://www.opendemocracy.net/uk/brexiti...
It has been made clear, by the Conservative government, that they wish for the full details of this donation by an unincorporated body with no website or legal presence whatsoever to be kept secret. See e.g. https://www.theguardian.com/politics/201...
In the House of Commons 'delegated legislation committee' vote on this issue, it was alleged by Government members that the Electoral Commission has fully investigated the source of the funds and is satisfied that the donation has complied with the law: https://hansard.parliament.uk/Commons/20...
At the same time, some allege that a fine may have been given by the Electoral Commission in relation to this donation: https://www.opendemocracy.net/uk/james-c...
This fine has been confirmed by the Electoral Commission recently and so the fact that the CRC was the source of the donation has been confirmed and is public domain knowledge, see http://www.irishnews.com/news/brexit/201...
To summarise the situation, a donation was made during an electoral period, that falls under the Northern Ireland donation secrecy legislation. The nominal donor (Richard Cook of the CRC) was made public knowledge by the Democratic Unionist Party and has since been confirmed by the Electoral Commission. The Electoral Commission has had communications with Richard Cook and/or other CRC representatives to investigate or clarify the source of this funding.
I now request, under the Freedom of Information regulations, that you release any emails or other written communications between the Electoral Commission and Richard Cook (or any other representative of the CRC) in relation to your investigation of the donation specified above.
I fully understand that the donor, Richard Cook and the CRC, ought to have remained undisclosed because of the laws of secrecy that relate to donations within Northern Ireland. However, the Electoral Commission cannot be accused of making the name of Richard Cook or the CRC public knowledge by responding to this current request when they have already been disclosed by the DUP and subsequently confirmed via other requests to the Electoral Commission as described above. As a result, I believe that any documents held by the Electoral Commission which happen to mention either Richard Cook or the CRC as the source of the donation have no grounds to remain secret.
If, during your consideration of this matter, you decide that the release of such information would still breach the Northern Ireland secrecy laws then please release the documents with the names Richard Cook and references to the CRC redacted.
If there are any other donors mentioned within the documents, then I propose that you redact those, in keeping with the secrecy legislation, but still release the redacted versions of the documents.
Please would you also advise as to whether or not you have possession of minutes or other reports from meetings with Richard Cook or any other representative of the CRC that would also be relevant i.e. where they had formed part of your investigation in to the donation specified. If so, and if it would not broaden the scope and cost of my request inordinately, then please release those documents under the same provisions.
Yours faithfully,
Rob Davidson
Dear Robert Davidson,
Our Ref: FOI 002-19
Thank you for your request under the Freedom of Information Act dated 04
January 2019, concerning:
There has been much coverage in the press about donations made to the
Democratic Unionist Party, during the EU referendum (2016), by the
Constitutional Research Council (CRC). See, for example,
[1]https://www.opendemocracy.net/uk/brexiti...
It has been made clear, by the Conservative government, that they wish for
the full details of this donation by an unincorporated body with no
website or legal presence whatsoever to be kept secret. See e.g.
[2]https://www.theguardian.com/politics/201...
In the House of Commons 'delegated legislation committee' vote on this
issue, it was alleged by Government members that the Electoral Commission
has fully investigated the source of the funds and is satisfied that the
donation has complied with the law:
[3]https://hansard.parliament.uk/Commons/20...
At the same time, some allege that a fine may have been given by the
Electoral Commission in relation to this donation:
[4]https://www.opendemocracy.net/uk/james-c...
This fine has been confirmed by the Electoral Commission recently and so
the fact that the CRC was the source of the donation has been confirmed
and is public domain knowledge, see
[5]http://www.irishnews.com/news/brexit/201...
To summarise the situation, a donation was made during an electoral
period, that falls under the Northern Ireland donation secrecy
legislation. The nominal donor (Richard Cook of the CRC) was made public
knowledge by the Democratic Unionist Party and has since been confirmed by
the Electoral Commission. The Electoral Commission has had communications
with Richard Cook and/or other CRC representatives to investigate or
clarify the source of this funding.
I now request, under the Freedom of Information regulations, that you
release any emails or other written communications between the Electoral
Commission and Richard Cook (or any other representative of the CRC) in
relation to your investigation of the donation specified above.
The Commission aims to respond to requests for information promptly and
within the statutory timeframe of twenty working days.
You may expect to receive a reply sent from the Commission by 01 February
2019.
Yours sincerely
Daniel Howard
Daniel Howard
Access to Information Officer (FOI and DPA)
The Electoral Commission
[6][Electoral Commission request email]
[7]electoralcommission.org.uk
References
Visible links
1. https://www.opendemocracy.net/uk/brexiti...
2. https://www.theguardian.com/politics/201...
3. https://hansard.parliament.uk/Commons/20...
4. https://www.opendemocracy.net/uk/james-c...
5. http://www.irishnews.com/news/brexit/201...
6. mailto:[Electoral Commission request email]
7. https://www.electoralcommission.org.uk/
Dear Rob Davidson,
Our Ref: FOI 002-19
Thank you for your email to the Electoral Commission dated 04 January
2019.
The Commission aims to respond to requests for information promptly and
has done so within the statutory timeframe of twenty working days.
Your request is in bold below followed by our response.
1. I now request, under the Freedom of Information regulations, that
you release any emails or other written communications between the
Electoral Commission and Richard Cook (or any other representative of the
CRC) in relation to your investigation of the donation specified above.
Our response is as follows:
We are unable to confirm or deny as to whether or not we hold any
information in relation to your request. The Commission is prohibited by
legislation from releasing information in relation to donations that may
or may not have been given to a registered Northern Ireland party. Section
71E of the Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act 2000 (PPERA)
places a duty of confidentiality on the Commission in relation to
information that relates to donations from Northern Ireland recipients or
information relating to our function in this area. We consider this
information exempt under section 44(1)(a) of the Freedom of Information
Act 2000. Section 44 exempts from disclosure any information if its
disclosure is prohibited by any enactment. As stated, the information
requested is specifically prohibited from being released by section 71E of
PPERA.
The Commission has previously had a similar request which the requestor
escalated to the Information Commissioner Office. You can see the ICO’s
decision on their website here:
[1]https://ico.org.uk/media/action-weve-tak....
As you will see, the ICO upheld the Commission’s response, which was to
apply the Section 44 exemption.
I trust that this information satisfies your request. The Commission
strives to be an open, transparent authority, but in some circumstances we
cannot responsibly release requested information, and we ask for your
understanding in this regard.
If you are not satisfied with this response, please note that the
Commission operates a review procedure, details of which can be found on
the Commission website at:
[2]http://www.electoralcommission.org.uk/ab...
Please also note that if you have exhausted all internal Commission review
procedures and you are still not satisfied you have the right to appeal to
the Information Commissioner. Details of this procedure can be found on
the ICO website: [3]https://ico.org.uk/
Yours sincerely,
Ashley Lardner
Information, Knowledge and Systems Manager
[4][Electoral Commission request email]
The Electoral Commission
[5]electoralcommission.org.uk
References
Visible links
1. https://ico.org.uk/media/action-weve-tak...
2. http://www.electoralcommission.org.uk/ab...
3. https://ico.org.uk/
4. mailto:[Electoral Commission request email]
5. https://www.electoralcommission.org.uk/
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