General Election – key messages, resources and guidance

The President and Vice-President of Conference’s statement when the general election was called expresses our key messages as a Methodist Church for the election:

• Speaking out about poverty in the UK, through our commitment to the Let’s End Poverty movement. We’re inviting everyone to pledge to engage with the candidates standing in their area, to make sure poverty is on the agenda at the election. Could you share the call to action where you are? All the information and resources can be found here: https://letsendpoverty.co.uk/election/.
• Alongside the focus on poverty, we are encouraging active and effective engagement in the political process – a call to love, pray, and vote.

JPIT has produced a range of resources to help individuals and churches to engage with the election. Available at www.jpit.uk/election, these include:

You are also reminded of the need for churches, and anyone publicly identified as staff members or officers of churches, to show political impartiality. As charities, churches are always covered by charity law which requires impartiality towards political parties. In election periods, there are additional regulations on anything that might be considered as intending to influence how members of the public vote. Churches have to be especially careful in public-facing work not to promote particular parties or candidates or comment on policies in a way that could be reasonably regarded as intending to influence the way members of the public will vote.

You will find detailed guidance and answers to frequently asked questions on complying with election regulations and charity law here: https://jpit.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/202405-General-Election-regulation-briefing.pdf.