Conservative manifesto fails to back lobbyists register
Tory pledges to clean up lobbying are woefully inadequate, transparency campaigners claimed today.
Despite the rhetoric, David Cameron’s promise to clean up the political system is not backed up with meaningful action.
Although both the other main parties have signed up to a statutory register of lobbyists, the Conservatives remain committed to self regulation.
Instead their manifesto pledges that ex-Ministers will be banned from lobbying government for two years after leaving office. That is welcome
but in reality it will only immediately affect Labour if the Tories win the election.
Read more: Conservative manifesto fails to back lobbyists register
Candid Caborn
If only MPs were as candid with Parliamentary Select Committees as they are with potential employers.
Richard Caborn MP is the latest ex-minister to be caught out by the Sunday Times lobbying sting . His claims to undercover journalists of what he would be prepared to do for the fake lobbying firm are in stark contrast to his account of his 'consultancy' work for engineering giant Amec, given to Tony Wright's Public Administration Select Committee during its recent inquiry into lobbying .
The Sunday Times reports that Caborn talked about a number of services he could offer the fictitious lobbying firm (at a daily rate of £2,500 “plus expenses”). He said he would be willing to build relations with ministers who were “good friends”. He was also happy to approach senior Conservatives if they came to power.
Caborn was also taped claiming that he may be in line for a peerage, which would boost his chances of extracting valuable information from the corridors of Westminster. Asked how he could help the firm if he were in the Lords, Caborn replied: “Well, access. Access to people ... You are in the environment, you’re moving around.” This included access to ministers.
Tories alone in supporting redundant lobbying industry initiative
ALT today dismissed the lobbying industry’s latest attempt to self-regulate as redundant, saying that the time had now come for statutory transparency rules for lobbyists.
In the wake of the most recent lobbying scandal, a statutory register of lobbyists now has the support of the Labour Party, the Liberal Democrats, a third of all MPs and an influential Select Committee. The Conservative Party is alone in favouring self-regulation.
The UK Public Affairs Council, launched today by the three lobbying industry trade groups, is the new body designed to address public concerns over lobbying. It will oversee a single voluntary register of lobbyists.
Tamasin Cave of the Alliance for Lobbying Transparency said:
“This is the old system of self-regulation by another name, a system that was described last year by the influential Public Administration Select Committee as “little better than the emperor’s new clothes. Recent events show such a voluntary system to be totally ineffective. UKPAC is yesterday's solution.
Read more: Tories alone in supporting redundant lobbying industry initiative
All Parties Must Commit to Lobbying Transparency Now
23 March 2010
UPDATE: Labour and the Lib Dems have both committed to introducing a statutory register of lobbyists. Petition David Cameron now to follow suit and commit to introducing a compulsory register if he gets elected.
The Alliance for Lobbying Transparency today publishes an open letter to the three main party leaders calling on them to commit to introducing transparency rules for lobbyists. The letter reads:
To Gordon Brown, David Cameron and Nick Clegg,
The revelation that former Ministers are offering political access for cash is another serious blow to public trust in our political system.
A major first step in cleaning up politics is to introduce compulsory transparency rules for the lobbying industry. The Public Administration Select Committee called for a statutory register of lobbyists some 16 months ago.
The Alliance for Lobbying Transparency (ALT) believes that a statutory register is a necessary first step in allowing public scrutiny of lobbying activity. ALT is therefore calling for an unequivocal commitment from all parties to introduce a statutory register of lobbyists as a matter of urgency in the new parliament.
The Alliance for Lobbying Transparency.
The lobbying industry in the UK is worth £2 billion and involves not just former Ministers, but also Lords, numerous parliamentary candidates and ex civil servants. And yet lobbying in the UK is almost entirely unregulated.
The British public has a right to know who is lobbying whom, and which areas of public life they are seeking to influence. The only way to achieve this is through a statutory register of lobbyists.
Cash for influence: we need transparency now
21 March 2010
An investigation by Dispatches and The Sunday Times reveals today that several MPs, including three former Labour Ministers, offered themselves for lobbying work at rates of thousands of pounds a day. Two of them promised access to ministers and boasted of their ability to help change government policies in favour of business. It's also being reported that a Tory grandee Sir John Butterfill has been touting access to Conservative party policy-makers.
Tamasin Cave of the Alliance for Lobbying Transparency says:
"David Cameron warned last month that lobbying is 'the next big scandal waiting to happen'. There can be no question now that decisive action must be taken to shine the light of transparency on lobbying in this country as a matter of urgency.
Will your next MP support lobbying transparency?
“I believe that secret corporate lobbying, like the expenses scandal, goes to the heart of why people are so fed up with politics.” So said David Cameron just last month.Yet, as the Observer reveals this weekend , some of his party’s current crop of prospective MPs aren't being fully transparent with voters about their links to the lobbying industry. (Parliamentary candidates working as lobbyists aren’t confined to the Conservative party, but they do make up the majority). Find out more.
The Alliance for Lobbying Transparency has teamed up with 38 Degrees – the 100,000-strong online campaign group – to press for greater transparency in lobbying by asking Parliamentary candidates to pledge their support for new transparency rules for lobbyists.
And we need your help.
Cameron must now support real transparency in lobbying
David Cameron admitted today that “secret corporate lobbying, like the expenses scandal, goes to the heart of why people are so fed up with politics.”
The Conservative Party must now pledge to support the introduction of a statutory register of lobbyists, as recommended by the influential Public Administration Select Committee (PASC), chaired by Tony Wright MP.
In a speech this morning, Cameron said of lobbying: “It’s an issue that crosses party lines and has tainted our politics for too long...an issue that exposes the far-too-cosy relationship between politics, government, business and money. I’m talking about lobbying – and we all know how it works.
Read more: Cameron must now support real transparency in lobbying