Government lobbying rules 'won't affect Murdoch'

By Cassie Chambers

Government proposals to create a statutory register of third party lobbyists would not include those working for firms like News International, MPs found today.

The political and constitutional reform committee called on the coalition to "scrap" the plans, which would have little impact on large corporations.

"Under the government's proposals, a lobbyist who worked in house for a large company such as News International, or Tesco, would not be required to register, however a 'one-man band' lobbyist would be required to register, name their clients, and pay for the privilege," the committee explained.

The coalition's current proposal would require all lobbyists acting for third parties to register with the government, but would not require in-house lobbyists to do the same, a move critics say is both unfair and ineffective.

"The government proposals target third party lobbyists, yet would produce little more than the current regime of voluntary regulation, without even a statutory code of conduct to regulate behaviour," committee chairman Graham Allen said.

He went on to warn that the government's current proposal could "even reduce regulation of the lobbying industry".

Citing statistics showing third party lobbyists make up less than one per cent of all meetings with ministers, the committee also emphasised that it had "seen no evidence to suggest that such lobbyists are a particular problem within the lobbying community".

Instead, MPs recommended a more comprehensive registry that would require all lobbyists, including those who work for charities, to participate.

The increased transparency from such a comprehensive registry should, according to the committee, be complemented by other measures.

One regulation proposed by the committee would be to increase the level of detail in meeting disclosures so that the actual topic ministers discuss with lobbyists is available.  Currently, such disclosures often list the meeting as a "general discussion".

Yet the "strongly expressed" views of different committee members during the inquiry perhaps foreshadow the problems government will have reaching consensus on this controversial issue.

The chairman emphasised that while some ministers believe the proposed reforms do not go far enough, others are "of the opinion that it is not clear that there is widespread public concern about lobbying".

He suggested these members support maintaining the status quo, and believe "no statutory register would be better than current government proposals".