Wednesday 28 August 2013

Lobbying!





The Deputy leader of the Commons, Tom Brake MP said recently,

“I make no apology for a bill that seeks to prevent big, opaque and unaccountable money wielding undue influence over our political system.”

And he is right not to do so. If the Bill was simply about lobbying by secretive big corporations we would all be behind it.  But that description hardly applies to the country's charities. It is clear that the Bill as drafted does inhibit charity's core work in speaking for their beneficiaries. When even the Electoral Commission says its a problem for charities then there is a problem to be sorted and it is no good blustering your way out of the problem as the Cabinet Office are doing. Saying the earth is flat, however loudly doesn't alter the fact it is round so a little more common sense from CO would be most welcome.

The Electoral Commission joins a long list of organisations who have voiced concerns about the Transparency of Lobbying Non-Party Campaigning and Trade Union Administration Bill in the past week. They warn it could hugely impact the future of campaigning.  

Either the Cabinet Office intends the Bill to cover charities or they don't. And if they continue to be obdurate we need to move our objections to parts of the legislature where our voice will be heard.

I'm optimistic we can get this Bill changed. But sooner rather than later would be good.


1 comment:

scalagouse said...

With regard to transforming rehabilitation I note an interesting article published in Civil Society which discusses charities in relationship to supply chains.
Maybe I've assumed wrongly that charitable organisations have a degree of social ethos. I find it utterly appauling that the term supply chain is used when discussing human lives. I really do believe that charities should not involve themselves with underhand, all about the pound contractors. They will only soil their reputation in the long run, or even the short run.
When your 'supply chain' is human life, and you discuss in a fashon the way you would beefburgers or fishfingers, I think the charity sector really has crossed a boundry.
But as long as those at the top keep getting their big wages who cares eh? Civil Society?