Lobbying of Ministers Debate

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Department: Cabinet Office

Lobbying of Ministers

Lord Wallace of Saltaire Excerpts
Tuesday 1st March 2022

(2 years, 8 months ago)

Lords Chamber
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Lord True Portrait Lord True (Con)
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I would indeed; I am quite old fashioned and I greatly respect the trade union tradition. I also respect the freedom of politicians such as Mr Ed Davey, who became a lobbyist immediately after losing his ministerial job in 2015.

Lord Wallace of Saltaire Portrait Lord Wallace of Saltaire (LD)
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My Lords, the Sunday Times two weeks ago told us a lot about the donors board, which has unpublished, unremarked, unrecorded meetings with the Prime Minister and other senior Members, some of whom clearly have actively lobbied for their own interests, while some have received public contracts. If we are committed to transparency, can we not be assured that such meetings will be properly recorded and details of those who attend published afterwards?

Lord True Portrait Lord True (Con)
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My Lords, once again, I take note of what the noble Lord says. In the system that we have in this country, ministerial meetings are noted by officials; as we established earlier in this exchange and as my noble friend Lord Lansley said, data is regularly published thanks to his legislation.