With local government elections coming up on May 4th – B&NES has gone into a state of ‘purdah‘ – it’s a word derived from the Urdu and Persian parda which means veil or curtain.
For us in the UK it covers the period leading up to an election, and B&NES have today published this explanation.
“The local government election for the Bath & North East Somerset Council and parish councils’ elections are taking place on Thursday 4 May 2023.
During the pre-election period from Monday 20 March until the polling stations have closed on Thursday 4 May, there will be some restrictions on how the council undertakes publicity, including press releases and social media.
Factual press statements about council decisions and activities, for public information purposes, may still be issued. However, no council publicity should deal with controversial issues or report views or proposals in a way which identifies them with individual councillors or groups of councillors.
In general, elected members will not be quoted in publicity material during this period other than the Chair commenting in specific circumstances on behalf of the council as a whole.”
