Will political spots play by the rules? (Opinion).

Political advertising is the hot potato no regulator wants to find landing in their lap. Not the Advertising Standards Authority, which got fed up with being used as a football to be kicked around by point-scoring politicians. And certainly not the rule-making Committee of Advertising Practice which threw up its hands, acknowledged that non-broadcast political advertising was impossible to police and exempted it from its codes.

The issue looks like returning to haunt the industry with news that the Electoral Commission is to consider whether the UK should replace party political broadcasts with US-style advertising, paid for by the parties.

It's an idea which looks deceptively seductive. Regulation of political advertising in Britain has become a dog's breakfast. However, paid-for political ads on TV throw up a multitude of questions and anomalies. Will the TV companies have to extend commercial minutage to accommodate such advertising? And what would be the reaction from existing advertisers to the extra" clutter"?

Also, political advertising calls for instant reaction to events and fast turnaround times. Would ...