Labour Party (UK)
Political communications
Central Office of Information spending on public relations, marketing and advertising in 2007-8 cost £391 million a year, more than three times the rate that Labour inherited.
COI Spending £
- 1997–98 £111 million
- 1998–99 £173 million
- 1999–00 £200 million
- 2000–01 £295 million
- 2001–02 £273 million
- 2002–03 £267 million
- 2003–04 £317 million
- 2004–05 £343 million
- 2005–06 £322 million
- 2006–07 £338 million
- 2007–08 £391 million
The first year of the Gordon Brown's term as Prime Minister coincided with a 16% rise in the cost of Government advertising, marketing and publicity. Government advertising has also attracted particular controversy this year, when the Home Office, in the words of Francis Maude MP, "abused the marketing funds by funding newspaper advertisements on police during the local elections “purdah” period, mirroring the Labour Party’s own campaigning."
There has also been an historic trend of COI advertising strangely rising just before an expected general election [1]
Resources
Notes
- ↑ Government Communication report with evidence published 26-January-2009 House of Lords: Select Committee on Communication, Accessed 26-January-2009
