Friends of the Earth  (FOE) (2005)

This report present the findings of some preliminary

research into corporate lobbying and corporate power in the

UK. In particular it looks at the Confederation of British

Industry (CBI) - probably the best known and most

influential business lobby group in the UK.

Findings of the report include:

* CBI's own surveys of its members reveals the CBI helps

  create a self-fulfilling culture of complaint about

  regulation by constantly asking members if regulation is a

  burden, and the more it asks members whether regulation is

  a problem, the more likely those members are to raise

  regulation as an issue

* the CBI then uses its members' complaints to help justify

  its calls for less regulation

* the CBI can at least claim to represent a broad - if

  unbalanced - section of UK business which makes it easy for

  the Government to go to them to get the business point of

  view - a kind of 'one stop shop' for the Government

* the Government has so far failed to seriously challenge

  the CBI and has at times accepted the CBI's claims at face

  value while neglecting to listen to the more progressive

  voices of business

* the CBI's rhetoric about the significant cost of

  regulations or higher environmental standards as not being

  backed up with hard evidence

* the CBI has effectively lobbied the Government to freeze

  the Climate Change Levy and increase the UK's greenhouse

  emissions under the EU Emissions Trading Scheme

* the CBI successfully lobbied the Department Trade and

  Industry (DTI) to water down anti-corruption and bribery

  guidelines to be used by their Exports Credit Guarantee

  Department because of concerns over how these proposed

  guidelines might jeopardise UK arms sales - even though

  this would undermine UK claims to be addressing corruption

  and bribery in business.

The brief offers a number of recommendations. They include:

* the UK Government should question the CBI's claims that

  higher environmental standards are threatening jobs and the

  competitiveness of UK industry

* the Government should also actively seek out the views of

  those progressive voices of business that support

  regulation to help achieve sustainable development

* UK companies should recognise that they have a

  responsibility to act transparently when lobbying and that

  their private lobbying position should match their public

  position on key environmental and social issues such as

  climate change and fair labour standards

* where trade associations, such as the CBI, misrepresent

  the point of view of businesses they should speak out

* businesses should develop a socially responsible approach

  to lobbying on Government policy and regulation.

Summary by Eldis Reporter