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Lobbying in the United Kingdom plays a significant role in the formation of legislation and a wide variety of commercial organisations,lobby groups "lobby" for particular policies and decisions byParliament and other political organs at national, regional and local levels.
The phrase "lobbying" comes from the gathering ofMembers of Parliament andpeers in the hallways (or lobbies) ofHouses of Parliament before and after parliamentary debates.[1] The now-defunctUK Public Affairs Council (UKPAC) defined lobbying as:
in a professional capacity, attempting to influence, or advising those who wish to influence, the UK Government, Parliament, the devolved legislatures or administrations, regional or local government or other public bodies on any matter within their competence.[2]
Formal procedures enable individual members of the public to lobby theirMember of Parliament but most lobbying activity centres on corporate, charity and trade association lobbying, where organisations seek to amend government policy throughadvocacy.
Companies and individuals who operate in this sector commonly use the terms "public relations", "public affairs", "political consultancy" or "corporate affairs" to describe their activities (though this was also a reaction to the negative publicity surrounding the word "lobbyists" following the 1994Cash-for-questions affair).[3] Professional public affairs agencies, representing multiple clients, undertake a significant proportion of lobbying activity in addition to individual organisations conducting lobbying on an in-house basis.
The professional lobbying industry has been rapidly growing since the mid-1990s and in 2007 was estimated to be worth £1.9 billion, employing 14,000 people.[4] The report also suggested that some MPs are approached over 100 times a week by lobbyists.
Since 1994 there have been various complaints by MPs about unacceptable lobbying and several police investigations. Current levels of lobbying are causing concern as is the so-called "revolving door" by which industry professionals move rapidly between legislative and commercial roles in the same sectors, creating potentialconflict of interests. Ministers are making increasing use ofSpecial Advisors (staff members employed by the minister personally, but paid for from the public purse) who are often selected from the related private sector industries and have sometimes been criticised for engaging in campaigning while still on the government payroll or for moving directly between lobbying roles and the advisor role.[5]
In 2009 theHouse of CommonsPublic Administration Select Committee recommended creation of a statutory register of lobbying companies and activities (similar to the one requiredin the United States),[6] but the government rejected that recommendation.[7]
In 2014, Parliament passed the Transparency of Lobbying, Non-Party Campaigning and Trade Union Administration Act, requiring statutory registration of professional lobbyists.[8] The Office of the Registrar of Consultant Lobbyists (ORCL) maintains the register as an independent statutory office.[9]
In June 2015 theChartered Institute of Public Relations (CIPR) launched the UK Lobbying Register to replace a joint voluntary register previously run in conjunction with The Public Relations Consultants Association and the Association of Professional Political Consultants.[10]
During the 1800spetitions were a popular way of raising issues with parliament and in 1839, 13,657 public petitions were presented on more than 90 different subjects with a total of over 4.5 million signatures.[11]
In 1866 a group of "Suffragists" unsuccessfully petitioned and lobbied parliament that women should have the same political rights as men.[12] In 1903 theSuffragettes, whose motto was "Deeds not Words", heckled ministers, displayed banners, and used both violent and non-violentdirect action; equal voting rights for women were achieved with theRepresentation of the People Act 1928.[13]
In 1923,Winston Churchill acted as a highly paid lobbyist forBurmah Oil to persuade the British government to allow Burmah to have exclusive rights to Persian (Iraqi) oil resources, which were successfully granted.[14]
In 1994,The Guardian reported that parliamentary lobbyistIan Greer of Ian Greer Associates had bribed twoConservativeMembers of Parliament in exchange for their asking parliamentary questions (and performing other tasks) on behalf ofMohamed Al-Fayed in what became known as theCash-for-questions affair.[15] Following a lengthy legal case brought byNeil Hamilton and Greer and a parliamentary investigation it was found that "Mr Hamilton's conduct fell seriously and persistently below the standards which the House is entitled to expect of its Members."[16] It was also found thatMichael Brown MP had "failed to register an introduction payment in relation toUS Tobacco" and had "persistently and deliberately failed to declare his interests in dealing with Ministers and officials over theSkoal Bandits issue." Others were also criticised.[17]
Shortly before the1997 general election,Bernie Ecclestone the head ofFormula One donated £1 million to theLabour Party. After Labour's victory and a meeting between Ecclestone andTony Blair, theDepartment of Health sought exemption for Formula One from theEuropean Union's proposed ban ontobacco advertising.[18] This event was cited as one of the reasons for the 2008 inquiry.[6]
Jonathan Aitken, previouslyMinister of State forDefence Procurement underJohn Major in 1992 was jailed in 1999 in relation to theArms-to-Iraq scandal.[19] Prior to becoming minister he had been a director of an arms companyBMARC, and after losing his seat at the 1997 election he was appointed as a representative for the arms companyGEC-Marconi.[19]
InFuel on the Fire, Greg Muttitt argues that disclosedminutes from 2002 to 2003 (leading up to thewar in Iraq) showed that many oil companies wanted a war in Iraq to seize Iraqi oil reserves. For example,BP allegedly said in the minutes that they "are desperate to get in", describing Iraq as "the big oil prospect".[20]
In March 2007 theSelect Committee on Standards and Privileges published a report following a complaint about the conduct ofDavid Cameron regarding his "Leader's Group". The complaint related back to August 2007 whenDavid Cameron's chief fundraiser used a researcher pass allotted to a Conservative peer (Lord Harris of Peckham) to gain access to facilities inside the Palace of Westminster. The committee also investigated a series of fundraising events which allowed donors to meet Cameron. The investigation concluded that it was improper to employ parliamentary staff for fund-raising purposes and that it was "ill-advised to link directly, in promoting the Leader's Group, the issues of access to his office and party fund-raising".Lord McNally, a member of the Lords Committee, said that this was "yet another example of how pressure on political parties to raise ever larger sums from private sources pollutes our politics". Using passes in this way does not however break any written rule.[21]
A July 2007freedom of information request[22] showed thatHeathrow Airport Holdings (BAA) executives met the Department for Transport 117 times between 2002 and 2007, including 24 meetings with the Secretary of State.[23]
In October 2007Lord Hoyle, a member of the House of Lords, was paid an undisclosed sum to introduce an arms lobbyist, a former RAF officer who worked forBAE Systems, to the Defence Minister,Lord Drayson. The lobbyist had also a security pass as a "research assistant" from another MP. Accepting money for introductions is "frowned on", but not illegal.[24]
In 2008, supporters of the anti-aviation lobby groupPlane Stupid managed to get onto the roof of thePalace of Westminster and dropped a banner reading 'BAA HQ' as a reference to the close relationshipBAA had with government. Stunts such as this had become a relatively common lobbying tactic, having been used by Fathers for Justice previously. Prime Minister Gordon Brown referred to the stunt saying: "The message should go out today very clearly that decisions in this country should be made in the chamber of this House and not on the roof of this House".[25] In January 2009 Labour MPJohn Grogan claimed there was an "intricate web" linking BAA,British Airways andWhitehall which had a direct influence on government policy resulting in the approval of a third runway at Heathrow Airport. Liberal Democrat MP,Susan Kramer MP said that Commons investigation was "a matter of public interest and is imperative."[26]
In January 2009The Sunday Times claimed that when a reporter had posed as a lobbyist thatLord Snape,Lord Moonie,Lord Taylor of Blackburn andLord Truscott had offered to influence legislation in return for payment (main:Cash for influence).[27] The Metropolitan Police said that no action would be taken, noting that "The application of the criminal law to members of the House of Lords in the circumstances that have arisen here is far from clear," and "there are very clear difficulties in gathering and adducing evidence in these circumstances in the context ofparliamentary privilege."[28] The House of Lords voted to suspend Lord Taylor and Lord Truscott for six months in the first such action since the 17th century.[29]
In February 2010 there were several separate developments:
In March 2010Dispatches andThe Sunday Times recorded fourMembers of Parliament offeringlobbying in return for influence with the Cabinet.Stephen Byers, a former member of the cabinet was recorded as saying he would work for up to £5,000 a day and was like a "cab for hire".[39][40][41]
In March 2010 theAdvisory Committee on Business Appointments revealed thatTony Blair, who had resigned as prime minister and MP on 27 June 2007[42] had acted as a paid business consultant to an oil firm with interests inIraq just 14 months after leaving office. In July 2008 he had requested to the committee that his relationship withUI Energy Corporation should be kept secret for reasons of "market sensitivity" and the committee agreed to postpone publication for three months against normal procedures; the committee then had to then "chase" Blair and send a formal letter to his office in November 2009, which he responded in February 2010 requesting continued secrecy. The committee chairmanLord Lang disagreed and the information was published on their website with the note "Publication delayed due to market sensitivities". The news raised concerns that he had profited financially from contacts he made during the Iraq war.[43] Blair also earned money from the ruling family in Kuwait December 2007 for whom he produced a report on the oil state's future over the next 30 years for a reported £1,000,000 fee. A 2009 investigation byThe Guardian found that he had put his multimillion-pound income through "an obscure partnership structure called Windrush Ventures, which enabled him to avoid publishing normal company accounts".[44]
In December 2011,The Independent newspaper reported that lobbying agencyBell Pottinger claimed to have been responsible for a variety of activities on behalf of clients that were considered not in the public interest including the manipulation ofGoogle searches and Wikipedia pages. One allegation was that Bell Pottinger, acting on behalf ofDyson, used its influence with the Prime Minister and the Foreign Office to get the Prime Minister to raise concerns about counterfeit goods with theChinese Prime Minister.[45]
"Two years ago anyone who had set foot in Conservative HQ could get a highly paid job, there was panic-hiring of Tories", said one lobbyist; however, with the Con-Lib coalition struggling and Labour ahead in opinion polls by about 10%, lobbying firms naturally wanted to boost their links with Labour: "About half the agencies I work with have specific requirements for people with Labour contacts."[46]
In January 2009 theHouse of CommonsPublic Administration Select Committee published a report,Lobbying: Access and Influence in Whitehall, which contained the following conclusions and evidence:
The report recommended "Astatutory register of lobbying activity to bring greater transparency to the dealings betweenWhitehall decision makers and outside interests."[48] It also concluded that the self-regulation of the professional lobbying industry was "fragmented" and appeared to "involve very little regulation of any substance".[6] In October 2009 the government responded to the PASC report rejecting a mandatory register of lobby groups. Instead:[7]
TheAlliance for Lobbying Transparency criticised the decisions saying "self-regulation is no regulation"; they compared the situation to that ofMPs Expenses scandal.[7]
In August 2009Transparency International UK received a grant from theJoseph Rowntree Charitable Trust to assess the level of corruption in the United Kingdom for the first time.[49] One motivation for research, which is expected to take 12 months is the "anecdotal evidence and reports in the media suggest that: a) there is a widespread belief that certain institutions and processes within the United Kingdom are vulnerable to corruption, for example, funding of political parties".[50]
Up to theTransparency of Lobbying, Non-party Campaigning and Trade Union Administration Act 2014 (the “Act”), the United Kingdom lobbying sector was mainly self-regulated by theUK Public Affairs Council. This was formed by theAssociation of Professional Political Consultants, thePublic Relations Consultants Association and theChartered Institute of Public Relations, and held its first meeting in July 2010, chaired byElizabeth France.[51] However, the PRCA resigned from the UKPAC less than 18 months later, in December 2011,[52] citing concerns about the accuracy and completeness of the UKPAC's register of individual lobbyists.
The Act was first introduced in the House of Commons in 2013 and it came into force in full on 1 April 2015.[53] However, the Act only requires the registration of consultant lobbying, as proscribes in Section 1 of the Act[54] (For definition of Consultant lobbying, see Section 2 of the Act[55].) In addition to statutory registration, individual lobbyists or lobbying organizations can register atthe UK Lobbying Register, which aims to promote transparency and professional standards in this industry.[56]
Since theLobbying (Scotland) Act 2016, the Scottish Government andMembers of the Scottish Parliament have been subject to stricter regulation, but even this legislation has large exemptions, such as exemptions for lobbying by telephone, email and letter.[57]
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{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: others (link)One witness described the current register as a 'rabbit hole of loopholes.' Exemptions mean that switching your camera off on a Zoom call could mark the distinction between regulated and unregulated lobbying, regardless of the content of the conversation.
