The Trade Union and Labour Relations (Northern Ireland) Order 1995

Political objects to which restriction applies N.I.

46.—(1)  The political objects to which this Part applies are the expenditure of money—

(a) on any contribution to the funds of, or on the payment of expenses incurred directly or indirectly by, a political party;

(b) on the provision of any service or property for use by or on behalf of any political party;

(c) in connection with the registration of electors, the candidature of any person, the selection of any candidate or the holding of any ballot by the union in connection with any election to a political office;

(d) on the maintenance of any holder of a political office;

(e) on the holding of any conference or meeting by or on behalf of a political party or of any other meeting the main purpose of which is the transaction of business in connection with a political party;

(f) on the production, publication or distribution of any literature, document, film, sound recording or advertisement the main purpose of which is to persuade people to vote for a political party or candidate or to persuade them not to vote for a political party or candidate.

(2) Where a person attends a conference or meeting as a delegate or otherwise as a participator in the proceedings, any expenditure incurred in connection with his attendance as such shall, for the purposes of paragraph (1)(e), be taken to be expenditure incurred on the holding of the conference or meeting.

(3) In determining for the purposes of paragraph (1) whether a trade union has incurred expenditure of a kind mentioned in that paragraph, no account shall be taken of the ordinary administrative expenses of the union.

(4) In this Article—

• “candidate” means a candidate for election to a political office and includes a prospective candidate;

• “contribution”, in relation to the funds of a political party, includes any fee payable for affiliation to, or membership of, the party and any loan made to the party;

• “electors” means electors at an election to a political office;

• “film” includes any record, however made, of a sequence of visual images, which is capable of being used as a means of showing that sequence as a moving picture;

• “political office” means the office of member of the Assembly, member of Parliament, member of the European Parliament or member of a district council or any position within a political party.