20 March 2008

Bingle got the opportunity to make his case during the latest inquiry session. He was called to give evidence alongside lobbyist Mike Granatt of Luther Pendragon, both as representatives of lobbying firms opposed to greater transparency and the disclosure of clients. In a separate session, MPs also heard from Eben Black, a lobbyist with law firm DLA Piper and Richard Schofield of the Law Society.

For lobbyists opposed to greater regulation, Bingle and Granatt made a good case for the introduction of transparency rules. 

18 March 2008 
"Utter nonsense" is how the Government described recent accusations that it colluded with airport operator BAA over the expansion of Heathrow. Harriet Harman responded to a call for a proper debate over the plans by saying that "all decisions on adding capacity at Heathrow will be taken independently by BAA."

Many would argue that the decision should be taken independently of BAA. But still, the idea of independence between the Government and the aviation industry, notably BAA and British Airways, becomes nonsensical when you look at the number of key people moving through the revolving door.

8 February 2008 

Representatives of the main trade bodies for the lobbying industry failed to inspire trust in self-regulation yesterday as they gave evidence to MPs as part of the current inquiry into lobbying.

In their opening statements to the Public Administration Select Committee, Gill Morris chair of the APPC, Rod Cartwright, head of the PRCA’s Public Affairs Committee and Lionel Zetter, immediate past president of the CIPR outlined the various systems of self-regulation operated by each group.

Questioning began in earnest with the return of Labour MP Paul Flynn. Having cited a number of cases of illegitimate or misleading behaviour by lobbyists – including paying Lords to “pimp for certain causes” and buying access to Ministers - he put a key question to the witnesses: How do we control the behviour of lobbyists that refuse to become members of your organisations and therefore opt out of self-regulation? Both Morris and Cartwright agreed that it was “unfortunate” that there are still major players that have chosen to stay outside the system.

25 January 2008 

The second session of the Public Administration Select Committee Inquiry into Lobbying saw three members of the new Alliance for Lobbying Transparency underline the urgent need to reform the rules governing lobbyists.

Giving evidence were Prof. David Miller and Dr William Dinan of Spinwatch and the University of Strathclyde, and Peter Facey, director of Unlock Democracy.

“This inquiry is part of a wider discussion about the disconnection from politics and the political process,” said Peter Facey opening the session. “What’s particularly worrying,” he said, “is the public perception that in politics powerful interest groups have a great deal more influence than ordinary voters.”

24 January, 2008 

A major new campaign aiming to open up the opaque world of lobbying launches today.

The latest abuse by lobbyists concerns an obesity charity financed by the weight loss industry, which misled MPs over its funding - uncovered just days before the Government is due to launch its obesity strategy.

ALT, the Alliance for Lobbying Transparency , a coalition of civil society groups, is calling on the Government to introduce rules that require the disclosure of lobbying activities, allowing greater public scrutiny and improving the accountability of Parliament.

Members of ALT have been called to give evidence today to the Public Administration Select Committee Inquiry into lobbying. David Miller and William Dinan from Spinwatch will argue that industry self-regulation is incapable of providing adequate transparency in lobbying and is unlikely to command widespread public confidence.

They will draw the Committee’s attention to recent examples of lobbying malpractice, including the charity TOAST (The Obesity Awareness & Solutions Trust) , a lobbying group funded by the weight loss industry, which misled MP’s over its sources of funding.

 Tamasin Cave, 30 November 2007

The first session of the Select Committee Inquiry into lobbying kicked off on Thursday morning (29 Nov) with evidence from three MPs: John Grogan, Peter Luff and Stephan Pound. The Inquiry is looking into the transparency of the lobbying industry, the effectiveness of recent attempts at self-regulation, and whether or not the rules for those in Parliament and government should be changed.

In May, Grogan joined forces with the Association of Professional Parliamentary Consultants (APPC) to encourage the 20-25 per cent of the lobbying industry firms that currently refuse to participate in self-regulation to sign up to the recognised codes of conduct.

Peter Luff, a former lobbyist at Bell Pottinger firm Good Relations, repeatedly took the industry line. In his written evidence to the Committee, he fails to see that there is a problem and has accused the APPC of seeking to “promote concern about this issue [of transparency in lobbying] with a view to enhancing the commercial prospects of its own members.”

Tamasin Cave, 22 November 2007

SpinWatch today condemned the move by UK Liberal MEP Chris Davies to adopt a weak stance on corporate lobbying at the European Parliament.

This morning, the Parliament’s influential Environment Committee voted on whether or not to propose the introduction of stricter rules for lobbyists in Brussels. 

It rejected Davies’ proposed amendment to the Committee calling for the establishment of a voluntary system of registration for lobbyists, compared to a mandatory one. Davies had also argued for a voluntary requirement that lobbyists declare how much they are paid.

Davies defended his position by claiming that “not once” in over eight years in Brussels had he been exposed to inappropriate lobbying. Davies said the US system of mandatory regulation of lobbyists was inappropriate for Brussels. “I do not need a constant supply of private sector money to secure my reelection,” he said.