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Political parties have been advised to stop their in-person campaigning efforts during the current lockdown.
Leafletting and door-to-door campaigning are “not considered an essential or necessary activity”, the Cabinet Office has warned.
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The announcement comes ahead of a number of elections set to take place in May, including the Mayor of London, Welsh and Scottish parliaments, plus local authorities in England.
Many of these were postponed from May 2020 due to the coronavirus outbreak.
Cabinet Officer minister Chloe Smith said the Government is currently reviewing how this year’s campaigning efforts can be ““successfully delivered in a Covid-secure way”.
Parties urged to ‘follow advice’
In a letter to members of the Parliamentary Parties Panel, she wrote: “The Government’s view is that [the] restrictions do not support door-to-door campaigning or leafleting by individual political party activists.
”It is widely accepted that voters can continue to get campaigning information remotely. In order to reduce transmission of Covid-19 infection, door-to-door campaigning at this point in time is therefore not considered essential or necessary activity.”
It continued: “I would ask that all parties follow this advice, and ensure that your supporters are aware of this position.
“I hope that you will all agree that it is essential that we reduce the infection rate, protect the NHS and save lives.”
‘Exemption for volunteer organisations’, claim Lib Dems
While Labour and the Conservatives have officially paused their leafleting, the Liberal Democrats has defended campaigners who have continued to deliver leaflets during the pandemic.
Party leader Sir Ed Davey was quizzed about their decision on BBC’s Andrew Marr Show last Sunday, stating that it was appropriate “if it is compliant with the guidance, absolutely.”
Sir Ed said that the party was taking precautionary methods adopted by Amazon and Royal Mail.
“The guidance says there is an exemption for volunteer organisations, we’ve taken legal advice on that, and the advice we’ve given to all our councillors and volunteers is they need to wear a mask, they need to socially distance, they need to sanitise their hands,” he said.
Sir Ed also claimed to have seen “evidence” that some activists from Labour and the Conservatives had continued leafleting, despite both parties having suspended in-person campaigning.
Deadly strain
The news comes as Boris Johnson announced that the UK variant of coronavirus that has spread around the world may be more deadly as well as more contagious.
Scientists advising the Government have concluded that the strain identified in Kent last year, named B117, could increase the death rate by nearly a third among some age groups.
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The latest analysis of the R number suggested the epidemic is shrinking in England, indicating the lockdown is starting to have an effect.
R has fallen to between 0.8 and 1.0 in England, with a daily growth rate of -4 to 0, according to the Government’s advisory committee Sage, down from 1.2 to 1.3 last week.
A separate analysis by King’s College London and tech company ZOE suggests R is around 0.8.
Elsewhere, a new hard-hitting advert will urge the public to remain at home whilst pressure on the NHS remains high.
In a marked shift in tone of the Government’s public health messaging, the advert features NHS doctors and nurses as well as patients and challenges people breaking lockdown rules to think about the impact their actions might have, asking: “Can you look them in the eyes and tell them you’re helping by staying at home?”
Additional reporting by Press Association
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