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Pickles Moves Against Local Authority Lobbying |
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 10th August, 2010
Councils are to curtail their use of lobbyists, following changes in the rules announced by Communities Secretary Eric Pickles.
All bodies that receive funding from the Department for Communities have been ordered to sever their contracts with lobbying firms.
Pickles said “taxpayer-funded lobbying and propaganda on the rates weakens our democracy” and his statement announced that “the practice of local authorities hiring lobbyists to press-gang Government into pet funding projects” is to stop.
The new rules take the form of an amended statutory Code of Recommended Practice on Local Authority Publicity, which is intended to stop campaigns being run from public funds.
“Local activism and localism don't need lobbyists,” Pickles said.
“Councillors can campaign for change at a personal or party political level, rather than throwing away other people's council tax on the corrosive and wasteful practice of government lobbying government. These tough new rules will lower the cost of politics and increase transparency.”
He also took a welcome swipe at “so-called town hall newspapers” which “are already closing down scrutiny from independent local papers”.
So far, so good, but the list of 74 councils and police authorities that have hired national public affairs firms for lobbying, published by Pickles, is far from comprehensive and the culture of local lobbying is entrenched in local government, particularly when it comes to planning decisions. The rail-roading of contentious proposals through the planning system, where public consultation is little more than a tick box exercise, is what weakens local democracy, with hundreds of lobbying companies specialising in planning employed by corporate players, from the superstores to energy companies and large developers.
What is needed is the introduction of transparency and ethics rules for lobbyists working at a local level, such as already exist in parts of the US, for example in New York City, and in Australia. Pickles’ announcement has already drawn the ire of lobbying luminaries such as Bell Pottinger chief Lord Bell, who laughably claimed that the statement is “opposed to freedom of speech”.
But he will need to go much further if he is to have any real impact on local democracy and the culture of local lobbying. |
