Transparency of Lobbying, Non-Party Campaigning and Trade Union Administration Bill

Debate between Jon Trickett and Andy McDonald

Monday 9th September 2013 Commons Chamber

[Jon Trickett]

Let us look at the clause concerned. Clause 1 currently states:

“A person must not carry on the business of consultant lobbying unless—

(a) the person, or

(b) if the person is an employee, the person’s employer,

is entered in the register of consultant lobbyists.”

Amendment 76 would exclude paragraph (b), so I deduce from that that the Government do not wish to have on the register the employer of the person who is being registered. If I was incorrect in my interpretation, no purpose whatsoever would be served by that deletion, or by its inclusion in the Bill in the first place.

[Andy McDonald (Middlesbrough) (Lab)]

Is that not the entire point? There would be no need to specify the person’s employer if they could stand alone. If a person is included, what was the point of putting that in the Bill in the first place? It is being deleted specifically to exclude the corporate entity. It is as plain as a pikestaff.

[Jon Trickett]

rose—