Friday 4 April 2014

A milestone on the Lobbying Act




My team interrupted my Australian holiday last night to let me know some good news from SW1. At long last the Labour Party have committed to repeal the dreadful Lobbying Act if they win power in 2015. Good on Ed.

We’ve spoken with Angela Eagle’s office a lot recently, and I wrote in February to all three party leaders to urge them to commit their parties to repeal. David Cameron wrote back to promise that the act “will only apply to third-party organisations or charities who spend money to procure the electoral success of a particular political party or candidate”. But he didn’t commit to replacing the Act with a better-drafted law. Now Labour have gone one better.

Labour’s commitment means the other parties must follow suit. It’s in their interests, and in the country’s interest, for all parties to commit to rewriting the bad law the government have produced.

But for now ACEVO’s campaign won’t rest. We’ll keep at the Electoral Commission and all the political parties, to make sure that the Lobbying Act regulation for the 2015 election is proportionate and that there’s good plans in place for a replacement law after 2015. You can now find updates on our fantastic new website too. Just go to http://www.acevo.org.uk/campaigns/speaking-truth-power-lobbying-act.


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