Unlock Democracy: Lobbying Campaign Progress

Yesterday, the minister in charge of government policy to introduce a lobbying register gave evidence to the House of Commons’ political and constitutional reform committee. You can watch the evidence session here:

http://www.unlockdemocracy.org.uk/mark-harper-evidence

In the meeting, he acknowledged that most of the responses to the recent consultation demanded stronger rules on transparency than the ones he had proposed. This accords with Mark Harper’s comments at our own public meeting in Birmingham last month where he admitted that he had united both transparency campaigners and the lobbying industry in demanding the regulations cover a wider range of lobbying activities!

The government is now due to publish a white paper and draft legislation for the lobbying register in this session of parliament - alongside a second consultation process. We welcome this but are concerned by the minister’s repeated assertions that the government intends to “take its time” over the proposed rules, although he insisted that the register would be created by 2015 at the latest. Of course it is crucial the government gets the rules right, and the proposals in its initial consultation were so poor it is clear it will have to go back to first principles. But it doesn’t take years to get the legislation right; it requires political will.

Unlock Democracy: Lobbying Campaign Progress

Thank you to everyone who took part in our campaign in response to the consultation. Last month we handed the Cabinet Office a letter signed by more than 7,000 people (as well as a similar letter, pictured, signed by 28 organisations). As a result of this pressure, it is clear the government now accepts that its initial proposals were unacceptably weak and it has had to go back to the drawing board. You can be assured that we will be continuing to monitor the situation very closely and will alert you the next time an opportunity to influence the process arises.

Yours sincerely,

Peter Facey
Director, Unlock Democracy

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Unlock Democracy: Kick Start Cambridge!

We want get Cambridge demanding an end to secretive lobbying. It is a critical issue. After years of seeing scandals surrounding Westminster and lobbyists, both the public and government agree that something needs to change. But how?

Unlock Democracy and Spinwatch have teamed up to host public meetings with local MPs to bring the lobbying debate to Cambridge and we’d like to invite you to help us. We want to hold a public meeting with your local Cambridgeshire MPs later this year and we’d like you to be part of making this happen.

Can you join us for a campaigns meeting?
With Unlock Democracy’s Director Peter Facey
Thursday 31st May – 7pm
Friends Meeting House, 12 Jesus Lane, Cambridge, CB5 8BA.
http://action.unlockdemocracy.org.uk/page/event/detail/general/jtx

Rather than decide everything ourselves, we want to encourage local Cambridge people to take a lead and make it their public meeting.

The government's consultation on their proposals to reform lobbying formally ended a few weeks ago but the controversies surrounding lobbyists have continued to dominate the press with the recent revelations surrounding Jeremy Hunt coming out of the Leveson inquiry. The government appears to now recognise that its own proposals are too weak, with the minister in charge Mark Harper distancing himself from them at our meeting in Birmingham last month. They are now promising to produce a new set of proposals in the autumn.

Our Director, Peter Facey, will be giving a talk on campaigning for the lobbying register and how secret lobbying is eroding our democracy. We will follow this with a workshop on organising the campaign at a local level.

We have to campaign for a strong and transparent register of lobbying, so we know who is trying to influence whom. We need to be ready for the government’s new proposals later this year. We won't put up with people paying for policy. Whether you are already interested in getting involved or need convincing, please come to our meeting to find out more information..

Let’s make sure Cambridge plays its part in ensuring we open up lobbying!

With best wishes,

Emily Randall
Campaigns and Outreach Officer