Election candidates aligning themselves with political movements, trade unions or other lobby groups will be required to account for expenses incurred as a result of this connection, a senior law officer has confirmed.
In an answer to a written question posed by Deputy Jonathan Renouf, Attorney General Matthew Jowitt clarified the question of expenses.
Mr Jowitt stated that: “If persons forming a political movement incur, with the express or implied consent of a candidate in an election, expenditure on goods or services to promote or procure the election of that candidate, or to prejudice the electoral prospects of any candidate, then this falls within the candidate’s expenditure to be declared.”
Electoral law imposes limits on election expenses: candidates for the island-wide role of Senator can spend a maximum of £4,146 plus 13p per voter, while the limit for those standing as Deputy or Constable is £2,517 plus 13p per voter.
Deputy Renouf also asked the Attorney General whether a political movement inviting candidates to support its manifesto or programme would qualify as a third party under electoral law.
As part of an answer comprising three sentences stretching to 95, 60 and 82 words respectively, Mr Jowitt said that merely inviting candidates to support a particular cause, policy or programme would not make the movement subject to the requirements of the law concerning limits on, and declarations of, expenditure by third parties.
The question was submitted in the wake of a States Assembly decision, taken in January following a proposition by Deputy Rob Ward, that a voluntary code be introduced for candidates.
Under the code, backed by a majority of 25 votes to 17, candidates will be asked to declare membership of any political group, movement, collaboration or campaign they are part of – as well as information about their policies, funding sources and decision-making structures.
Deputy Ward’s proposition followed the establishment of the political movement Value Jersey during 2025.
Questions over its structure and intended operations were raised in January after it emerged that the ‘movement’ had sought support from The Messina Group, which was instrumental in President Barack Obama’s 2012 re-election campaign.
It was then revealed that Value Jersey was registered as a company in the UK – apparently due to local banking issues – with a security specialist as its director.
The group has continually maintained, however, that it is not a party and will not be endorsing candidates, but would be issuing “a roadmap that any candidate can endorse, based on evidence, not ideology”.
Deputy Ward argued that the new code would “strengthen transparency and accountability in our democratic process by addressing the growing presence of political groupings in Jersey”.