Caerphilly Council has confirmed its officers did not give permission to use the authority’s official logo on a Labour Party social media post.
Councillor Charlotte Bishop, leader of the opposition Plaid Cymru group, wrote to chief executive Ed Edmunds to complain about the use of the logo on party political material.
In his response, Mr Edmunds said:
Councillor Bishop
Having discussed with colleagues I can confirm that permission was not sought to use the Caerphilly Council logo in this post/leaflet and that officers were not involved in its production.
The inclusion of the Council logo could, in my view, give the impression that this is a Council endorsed position and not a party specific political view. That of course needs to be addressed.
Whilst I don't believe it to be a campaign leaflet/post, I have raised it directly with the Leader and asked that the Caerphilly logo is removed (and remains unused in this manner in future). I believe this has now been done.
Thank you for drawing this matter to my attention.
Thanks
Ed
Councillor Charlotte Bishop said: “I’m very disappointed that the council leader has not apologised and is trying to make light of this blatant breach of clear rules about linking party political publicity and the authority in the way Labour did.
“Political parties cannot use local authority logos on their campaign material in the UK. Even with permission, the use of official council branding on partisan campaign literature is strictly prohibited to maintain the political neutrality of public bodies.
“The chief executive has made it clear that the post does give the impression that the council has endorsed the comments in the social media post.
“The leader needs to front up to the breach and not try to deflect. We will look at making an official complaint about this serious breach through the council Monitoring Officer. There needs to be a thorough investigation on how this happened.”
Councillor Gary Enright, joint deputy leader of the Plaid Cymru group, added: “It is particularly disappointing, yet unsurprising, that this leader (Councillor Jamie Pritchard) has taken it upon himself not to apologise for the use of the Caerphilly council logo in this regard. His actions just reinforces what a large majority of this borough’s residents view already is, in that; this ruling Welsh Labour administration thinks it can act and behave in a way that has total disregard for anyone.
“It is important to distinguish the political side of any local authority from its administration side of officers and staff . Yet by Welsh Labour’s use of the council’s logo in this flawed and uniformed article, it implies that this organisation is complicit and culpable with Welsh Labour’s view point and that is morally wrong. For that reason, if Councillor Pritchard, as Leader, thought anything of this organisation then he should offer a full and unreserved apology for its use.”