Who’s Lobbying Whom?
2:22 am - January 27th 2009
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Event notice: Why the UK needs a register of lobbying activity
This weekend, allegations were made in the Sunday Times that four peers said they would consider accepting money for amending laws for clients. More than ever, it seems lobbying in the UK needs to be exposed to greater public scrutiny.
You are invited to attend an event – Lobbying Exposed – to discuss how to achieve transparency in lobbying, through a statutory register of lobbying activity. The event will explore what a lobbying register might mean for the UK, and what we can learn from a working register in the United States. It is hosted by the Alliance for Lobbying Transparency.
Just three weeks ago, the Public Administration Select Committee (PASC) published a report urging tighter controls over lobbying. It recommended that Government introduce a statutory register of lobbying activity in the UK.
David Miller of the Alliance for Lobbying Transparency said: “Tweaking the rules on the conduct of Parliamentarians will not restore public confidence. What’s urgently needed is a crackdown on ethics in government and transparency in lobbying so that we can see who is lobbying whom and on what.
The Government should tighten rules on outside interests and introduce a register of lobbying activity, as recommended by the Public Administration Committee. This would record the names of those lobbying, their employers or clients – ie those seeking to influence – and crucially, it would put in the public domain details of meetings between lobbyists and officials.”
Speakers:
• Kelvin Hopkins MP, a member of the PASC committee
• Sheila Krumholz of the US Centre for Responsive Politics, known for its award-winning website opensecrets.org. Sheila will look at how the lobbying register in the United States works, how it is used by journalists, and how this improves public accountability.
• Chair: James Graham, Unlock Democracy, a member of the Alliance for Lobbying Transparency
Lobbying Exposed
Wednesday 28 January 2009
10 – 11am
Room M, Portcullis House, Westminster
Please RSVP
Contact: Tamasin Cave: email: .
The Alliance for Lobbying Transparency is a coalition of civil society groups concerned about the growing influence of lobbying on decision-making in the UK. Members of ALT include Action Aid, Friends of the Earth; Greenpeace, National Union of Journalists, Unlock Democracy and War on Want. www.lobbyingtransparency.org
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Reader comments
What’s urgently needed is a crackdown on ethics in government and transparency in lobbying so that we can see who is lobbying whom and on what.
Pffft!
If it doesn’t mean wasting billions of pounds and mean that 60 to 300 million people are on any form of database it won’t even come to fruition.
But good luck! And great idea!
This weekend, allegations were made in the Sunday Times that four peers said they would consider accepting money for amending laws for clients.
You mean four Labour peers
Because no-one can think of any examples when Tories have been involved in this kind of thing (and proven rather than just alleged)?
I think either sentence is accurate.
“You mean four Labour peers”
IF they buy a peerage, they’re entitled to recoup it. It is like tax farming in ancient Rome, Iceni Investments Ltd..
>Because no-one can think of any examples when Tories have been involved in this kind of thing (and proven rather than just alleged)?
Red herring. To be fair, in this case both the Tories and the Lib Dems turned them down.
My take: Four *New* Labour Peers, and all the guff about lobbyists in this case is just a smokescreen: no lobbyists were involved.
The tape sounded pretty convincing to me, but the core issue will not be solved by having a magnificent set of rules (the Wintertons’ expenses diddling was within the rules) – it will be solved by having politicians with high standards of personal ethics.
On the wider issue: reform the rules in the Lords and for the lobbyists, but don’t expect either very much to deliver unless the people themselves are honest.
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