David Miller 21 April 2008

The lobbyists lobby group

As a result, the Alliance for Lobbying Transparency (ALT) found a receptive audience at a busy debate in Belfast on the 3^rd of April.  Organised as a fringe meeting at the Annual Delegate Meeting of the National Union of Journalists, the event was co-sponsored by the Northern Ireland Government Affairs Group (NIGAG) is the lobbyists lobby group formed in 1999 following the Good Friday Agreement.

David Miller, 9 January 2008

The Lobbyists who run the SPBE: Scobie and Gauld (middle and right)

Writing in the IPT magazine The Bridge, Devin Scobie of the SPBE notes that facilitating the access was not easy: 'Establishing... that an IPT led Programme was a charitable cause and thereby eligible to book meeting rooms in the Parliament took some time but is now firmly in place' (January-March 2008, p. 16.).  Amongst those attending the IPT led programme in Edinburgh was Jane McGirk, lobbyist for SELEX Sensors and Airborne Systems UK .  This is an arms firm (part of the Finmeccanica Group the privatised former Italian state company which now owns Westland Helicopters) which produces 'sensing solutions for fighters, transporters, helicopters and Unmanned Airborne Vehicles (UAVs).'  They also produce 'high power lasers for long range designation of ground targets (selected for the Lockheed Martin Sniper pod and Joint Strike Fighter EO targeting system)' and  'long range target identification systems'.  These weapons are currently used in Iraq and Afghanistan, where the academic research has suggested that more than half a million people have been casualties since March 2003. 

Europol Logo

In their first report of this nature - European Terrorism Situation and Trend Report 2007 - Europol reports that across the EU there were 498 terrorist attacks in 2006. These include:

    424 'ethno-nationalist and separatist' (mostly in France and Spain) 

    55 'left-wing and anarchist' (mainly Greece , Italy, Spain and Germany)

    1 failed Islamist terrorist attack (in Germany, plus two more attempts allegedly foiled in Denmark and the UK)
    1 right-wing terrorist attack (in Poland)

EU Health Commissioner praising corporate lobbyists

The Financial Times was pretty clear about the agenda of the industry: 'Food and drinks companies can avoid draconian regulation if they voluntarily cut down on fat and salt in their products, give clear nutritional information and reduce advertising to children, the European Commission said on Thursday.'  According to Markos Kyprianou, the health commissioner, 'We are facing a complex problem that cannot be solved by legislation,' Unbelievably this is referred to as a 'name and praise' strategy. In other words no action will be taken to require the food industry to stop the well known marketing practices that are a key cause of the epidemic of obesity.

In the interests of openness and transparency, I have to declare drinking a cup of coffee at the Scottish Parliament last Thursday.  The reason it needs to be declared is that it was supplied by British Energy, the nuclear company. I travelled to Edinburgh to present our findings on Nuclear Spin to the Scottish Parliament's Cross Party Group on the Civil Nuclear Industry.  I know that the coffee had been supplied by British Energy because the chair of the Cross Party Group John Home Robertson MSP challenged me to declare it.  If he hadn't, I wouldn't have known, since it is not declared on the Website of the Cross Party Group.  The rules require that any gifts of more than £250 in any calendar year from any source should be declared.  Yet, despite declaring five separate items of funding from British Energy from May 2005 to January 2006, there is no mention of this support from British Energy.