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

Sheila Gilmore Excerpts

Tuesday 10th September 2013 Commons Chamber

Let me return to the issue raised by the hon. Member for North Down (Lady Hermon) about the complexities of the wording and drafting of this legislation giving rise to confusion. I allude to my earlier point about some of the explanatory notes, which clearly demonstrate the ambiguity in how the Bill is drafted. We need to remember that our debate in this House, where we all agree on intentions, is not what the courts will use when they are looking at the black and white of this legislation to determine the law.

[Sheila Gilmore (Edinburgh East) (Lab)]

rose—

[Dr Whiteford]

I am anxious to make progress and conscious of the time constraints for this debate and the need to move on to consider further clauses. I am going to finish my speech shortly.

Increasing the regulatory burden on charities, which this Bill will do, will not improve transparency one jot, and it will not improve accountability. At best, it will add to and fuel the bureaucratic process, and at worst it will deter smaller organisations from engaging in public policy processes.

The purpose of my amendment 169 is simply to mitigate what I see as the worst potential side-effects of the Bill, but I believe that this part of the Bill needs wholesale redrafting, so I will be happy to support other amendments to that end.

The great irony of the Bill is that it fails to tackle the real problems in our culture of lobbying where certain parties have undue influence; instead, it creates a new layer of regulation on civil society actors who already operate with appropriate levels of transparency and accountability, many of which are already adequately regulated. This part of the Bill places obligations on some third parties that are not commensurate, proportionate or fair. I fear that it will be simply unworkable.

In speaking to amendment 169, I urge the Government to listen to those 200 organisations—not just to tell them that they are wrong, but to understand why they are concerned and accept that the drafting is well below par. Overwhelming concern has been expressed by civil society organisations about this Bill, which really needs a thorough overhaul.

[Stephen McPartland (Stevenage) (Con)]

I have been encouraged to speak to this part of the Bill. [Interruption.] I have not been whipped, although the Whips want to make progress. I have been encouraged to speak because some of the contributions have been very good. I am concerned, however, that there is a gap between the perception of clause 26 on controlled expenditure and the reality of that clause and what it does for controlled expenditure. My understanding of the law is that if a charity is engaged in an activity that might affect the outcome of an election, it needs to identify, first, whether that activity can be engaged in legally under charity law and, secondly, whether the activity would have an effect on the election. If it did have such an effect, the activity would, under current law, be considered to be part of controlled expenditure. I therefore think there has been a gap between the perception of the Bill and what it is actually trying to do.

I think that the contributions from the hon. Member for Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross (John Thurso) were very pertinent, as they tried to drill down on the important points. I was pleased to hear that the Minister will attempt to give some reassurance on Report about helping some of these charities. I am a big fan of Christian Aid, for example, and have worked with it on a number of campaigns. I have worked with other organisations, too, and I do not want any charities to be concerned or worried about the policy issues with which they can get involved.

I am a trustee of two small local charities in my constituency, and Stevenage has over 400 local charities and community groups. None of them has come to me with any concerns about the Bill. The concerns seem to come from many of the larger national charities. I am a big supporter of a number of those national ones and contribute to a number of their causes. I am proud of that.

[Sheila Gilmore]

Has the hon. Gentleman read the evidence given by the Electoral Commission to the Select Committee on this matter? It was concerned that the drafting was not good enough and would give rise to considerable problems, not just for these organisations but for the Electoral Commission in trying to administer the legislation.

[Stephen McPartland]

I did read the Electoral Commission’s evidence, and noted the Committee’s conclusion that it would need more resources—both money and people—in order to deal with the Bill.

I understand that under the present law, a number of charities would have to engage in the two tests of reasonability. They would have to ask first, “Do we want to be involved in an attempt to affect the outcome of this election, and is that allowed under the current charity law?”, and secondly, “Will the policy activity that we are undertaking be subject to controlled expenditure, as the law currently states?”

Like my right hon. Friend the Member for Haltemprice and Howden (Mr Davis), I am a huge supporter of free speech, and would not do anything that would affect it. I should be very disappointed if any measure in the Bill led to problems in that regard. The Chairman of the Political and Constitutional Reform Committee, the hon. Member for Nottingham North (Mr Allen), has made a number of impassioned contributions throughout the debate about the need for more pre-legislative scrutiny, and whether it should be the norm in the House of Commons.

--- Later in debate ---

[Mr Allen]

I would love to use what little persuasive powers I have on the Deputy Leader of the House and the Parliamentary Secretary, Cabinet Office, the hon. Member for Norwich North (Miss Smith), who has responsibility for constitutional affairs. I think they would be receptive, because they are affable and approachable, and they have always been understanding of what the House needs. Unfortunately, the people we need to persuade are not here. They are not listening to our debates, but we need to make sure that that message gets to them. Inconvenient as it may be when we get e-mails and letters from the big organisations I mentioned, that is their cry for help. They are requesting us to get that message over not to the people on the Front Bench at the moment, but to people a little deeper in the No. 10 and Whitehall machine. Those people must start to listen.

What amazes me is that we started off more than 16 or 17 months ago with a lobbying Bill. That was what we were looking at, and it was what my Select Committee was looking at for more than a year. We were pottering along, not very urgently, as it looked like the steam had gone out of it. There was a lot of stuff going on around the election period, but there was no great rush. When we completed our consideration, some members of our Committee—former members who are in the Chamber today—had moved on to greater things. Being on my Select Committee is a great way of getting promotion—he says, trying to fill one or two vacancies. Those people had moved on to other things before the Government got around to answering the report; it took them more than a year. The report was about lobbying.

[Sheila Gilmore]

Will my hon. Friend give way?

[Mr Allen]

I shall give way shortly to another distinguished member of my Select Committee.

The incubus of parts 2 and 3 developed suddenly just before the recess. Suddenly something changed and the pace of activity rocketed from lethargy and sloth to knee-jerk and hyper-speed to get this thing out into the parliamentary domain and through the House without due consideration. We need to ask some questions about that and consider not giving the all-clear to clause 27—the most offensive clause in the whole Bill—without that proper explanation.

[Sheila Gilmore]

I would not like my hon. Friend to give the impression that there was no sense of urgency among members of the Select Committee.

[Mr Allen]

Oh no.

[Sheila Gilmore]

It was the Government’s response that was at fault. Significantly, the Electoral Commission was very clear in its recommendation on restrictions on spending. Surely it is important that the Government should listen to such bodies, which have the experience.

[Mr Allen]

Absolutely. The Electoral Commission comes before us quite a lot and it is pretty hard to get anything off the straight and narrow out of those people. They are impartial civil servants—it is like talking to the Boundary Commission or comparable public officials—who take their jobs seriously. It is impossible, even with the talents I have on my Committee, to lure them into the political domain, quite rightly. I urge hon. Members to read what the Electoral Commission said in evidence about the spot it has been put in by how the Government have rushed the Bill through. I shall make a couple of points on that in a moment.

It used to be a lobbying Bill, but now it is a lobbying Bill and some. It is the “and some” that causes the problems. However, as we discovered during yesterday’s debates, the lobbying provisions apply to Mencap and Save the Children. I had not realised their massive significance in general elections in Britain. I thought they were a helpful adjunct and were interesting, challenging and demanding, but I had not realised that they decided the outcome of general elections. This lobbying Bill, however, leaves out some of the biggest beasts in our political firmament. It does not catch the people who said, “It’s The Sun wot won it,” after a general election. It does not capture those people, such as Rupert Murdoch, who have massive influence. So, even on its own terms, before 27 July, this was an inadequate Bill. Instead of our being able to focus on that, however, clause 27 has been added. As I mentioned yesterday, it impacts on, and has managed to create a unity in, the voluntary and charitable sector that has been hitherto unseen. That, I think, is a perverse achievement by the Government.