Lobby proposals fail to find support

Published on 13/07/2012 00:00

Government proposals for a statutory register of lobbyists will do little to improve transparency and may cover less than 1 per cent of ministerial meetings, an MPs’ report said today.

The report called on ministers to ditch their plan for a register covering only lobbyists working on behalf of third parties, and to instead introduce regulation to cover all those who lobby professionally.

New regulation should cover not only third-party lobbyists, but also those working in-house for companies, charities, trade unions and think tanks, said the report by the House of Commons Political and Constitutional Reform Committee.

Before becoming Prime Minister, David Cameron identified lobbying as “the next big scandal waiting to happen” and promised to introduce measures to curb abuses.