Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether the Foreign Influence Registration Scheme will apply to the 48 Group.

As I said to Parliament on the 16th December, the government plans to lay the regulations that underpin the scheme in early 2025, ahead of the scheme going live in the summer. I also reaffirmed the government’s commitment to provide three months’ notice of the scheme’s go-live date to give all those affected by it adequate time to prepare.

Once the scheme is in force those carrying out political influencing activities at the direction of a foreign power will need to register under the political influencing tier. Work is underway to identify which foreign entities will be placed on the enhanced tier. It would not be appropriate to comment on the scope of any specifications under the enhanced tier at this stage.