Lobbying

Debate between Chloe Smith and Helen Jones

Tuesday 25th June 2013 Commons Chamber

[Helen Jones]

In a moment.

There has been promise after promise on lobbying, yet nothing has been done. We have been reminded that it was the Prime Minister who said that lobbying was

“the next big scandal waiting to happen”.

That was followed by further words, but no action. The Conservatives did not commit to introducing a statutory register in their election manifesto, despite the fact that when the Prime Minister made his famous “Rebuilding trust in politics” speech, he said:

“it’s time we shone the light of transparency on lobbying and forced our politics to come clean”—

it has taken a bit of time to do the washing.

The coalition agreement contained a promise to introduce a statutory register of lobbying and the former Minister for constitutional affairs, the hon. Member for Forest of Dean (Mr Harper), promised that he would publish proposals in January 2011, but then everything went quiet until recently. It seemed that no one was responsible at all.

[The Parliamentary Secretary, Cabinet Office (Miss Chloe Smith)]

Will the hon. Lady give way?

[Helen Jones]

In a moment.

The latest scandal forced the Government into action, but their proposals that we have heard about so far are full of holes. It appears that they will cover only a narrow section of third-party lobbyists, but that is simply not good enough. As we heard from my hon. Friend the Member for Nottingham North, only about 100 organisations would be covered, yet the UK Public Affairs Council defines lobbying as

“in a professional capacity, attempting to influence, or advising those who wish to influence, the UK Government, Parliament”—

and so on.