Friday March 20th 2026
West Lothian Council headquarters
Written by Local Democracy Reporter, Stuart Sommerville
West Lothian Council has stopped live broadcast of all its council meetings in the run-up to the Holyrood elections.
The meetings between Tuesday this week at the Scottish parliament elections on 8 May will continue to be recorded.
The self imposed purdah, as it is known, is to ensure the council does not become a platform for overt political campaigning.
The council has been broadcasting almost all of its meetings since August 2022. It first imposed a purdah on live broadcasting in the month before the July 2024 General Election.
As in that poll, several councillors are standing as candidates in the Scottish election for the three new constituencies which cover West Lothian.
It is only meetings which take place in the council chambers in Livingston’s Civic Centre which are broadcast. Others, such as local area committees which take place at other council venues in communities, are not broadcast or recorded.
The Licensing Board, which meets monthly is neither broadcast nor recorded because of the potential wider dissemination of sensitive information regarding applicants.
The move is unrelated to the council’s decision at this year’s budget to cease broadcasting, and recording of meetings. No date has yet been given for that.
A West Lothian Council spokesperson said: “We have postponed the live broadcast of council meetings until after the Scottish Parliament elections in May 2026, due to the restrictions around publicity in the pre-election period.
“Members of the public are still welcome to attend council and committee meetings in person if they wish, with the majority of meetings taking place at the Civic Centre in Livingston.
Full information on where and when each committee is taking place, as well as the agenda, is available at https://coins.westlothian.gov.uk/.
“More stringent restrictions around publicity are in place from 16 March 2026 after the Notice of Election was published, and council must adhere to legal rules and guidance around publicity and planned council business during this period.
“The suspension of the live broadcast of committee meetings is among a number of changes the council must make to ensure that public resources are not used to affect support for any political party or candidate. This also happened in the pre-election period for the UK General Election in 2024.
“All meetings will continue to be recorded in full as normal, and recordings will be made available soon after the election on 7 May 2026.”
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