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

Unlock Democracy: Elect The Lords

As you will have gathered from the news over the past 24 hours, the Joint Committee on the Draft House of Lords Reform Bill finally published its report yesterday[1].

This represents our best opportunity to hold elections for the House of Lords since Parliament first committed itself to holding them over 100 years ago.

With the light at the end of the tunnel now in sight, we can’t let this opportunity pass; will you write to your MP today and ask them where they stand?

Write to your MP

Overall, the Joint Committee has endorsed the government’s proposal to hold the first elections to the House of Lords in 2015, aiming for an 80% elected second chamber by 25 years.

This report is highly significant. A group of MPs and peers have come together on behalf of the main parties and crossbench lords and agreed a set of proposals. Some of the awkward squad on the committee have come up with their own “minority report” but it is a confused and rambling mess; most significantly, the authors of the minority report themselves couldn’t agree on whether to introduce elections to the Lords. It is clear that the only meaningful consensus is for reform.

We don’t agree with everything the report has to say but there is much in the report that we strongly endorse. What’s more, they appear to have agreed quite a lot with us. The report cites Unlock Democracy 46 times and adopts several of our recommendations. Thanks a lot to our thousands of supporters who took part in our consultation response and submitted their own evidence: you made a real difference.

But now the focus is squarely back on MPs: we have a workable consensus position now; will they stick to their manifesto commitments or not? The House of Lords Reform Bill will now almost certainly be included in the Queen’s Speech next month, with MPs set to debate it in the next few weeks. We’ve written to them already but we need you, as their constituents, to put pressure on them as well.

We’ve modified our tool so that if we have already received your MP’s response we won’t ask you to ask them again. Simply click on this link to get started:

Write to your MP

Ignore the nay-sayers; we have a golden opportunity here. It may not be the top issue on everyone’s agenda, but the public is overwhelmingly in support of reform. On Monday we published a poll showing that 69% want at least half the Lords elected (33% want fully elected) - just 5% want to stick with a fully appointed upper house[2]. What they really want is for politicians to stop making excuses and to get on with it. With your help we can help concentrate their minds.

Thank you,

Peter Facey
Director, Unlock Democracy

[1] See http://www.parliament.uk/business/committees/committees-a-z/joint-select/draft-house-of-lords-reform-bill/news/publication-of-report/
[2] See http://www.unlockdemocracy.org.uk/media/news/entry/clear-majority-want-lords-reform

Unlock Democracy: Sign The Open Up Lobbying Joint Letter!

The Guardian reports today that lobbyists gave MPs and peers over £1.8m in 'perks' to all-party parliamentary groups last year[1]. With just 5% of lobbying activity aimed at Parliament likely to be covered by the government's proposals for a new lobbying register [2], we will still have very little idea how much in total is being spent to influence our politicians or for what purpose.

We have just 48 hours to submit our responses to the government's official consultation on their proposals to clean up lobbying. Will you sign our joint letter?

http://action.unlockdemocracy.org.uk/lobbying-letter

Lobbying affects everything we do, from our health service to the television we watch. The new Guardian report shows that the Associate All Party Health group received £117,000 in “membership fees” from 14 companies, funded trips to 27 countries, and free membership for peers and MPs to Weight Watchers.

It is crucial that we are given the full picture about who is trying to influence what policy decision. At the moment we have no idea. And the government's proposed new rules would only affect the practices of 1 in 4 lobbyists. Bizarrely, they would cover a group of small shops objecting to a new Tesco opening nearby if they hire a public affairs company to put their case to government but not Tesco’s own in-house lobbyists.

A partial register will do nothing to combat the perception that money talks in Westminster.  Too many loopholes will simply mean that the more disreputable side of lobbying will thrive.  We can’t allow this to continue.

More than 6,000 people have signed our open letter to Mark Harper, the minister in charge of regulating the lobbying industry.  Will you add your name?

http://action.unlockdemocracy.org.uk/lobbying-letter

We have just 48 hours left to take part in this consultation - it ends on Friday!  Let’s send a clear signal to the government and demand more transparency.

With best wishes,


Peter Facey
Director, Unlock Democracy

Notes:
[1] Guardian: MPs' £1.8m in perks revealed
http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2012/apr/10/mps-lords-perks-revealed-parliament

[2] Independent: Lobbyists' register to leave Parliament awash with cash from big business
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/lobbyists-register-to-leave-parliament-awash-with-cash-from-big-business-7609018.html