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Lobbying Bill: a wasted opportunity for real political reform

Posted by Kate Green, MP for Stretford and Urmston, at 08:25, Fri 6 September 2013:

My thanks go to the many constituents who've written to me about the Lobbying bill which is being debated now in parliament. This has been one of my biggest post bags, and no one who has contacted me about it has had a good word to say for the Government's legislation.

The Prime Minister had been promising for months, even years, to deal with the insidious influence of lobbyists on politics. Then he realised that the big money in politics - dosh for dinners, cash for access - mostly goes to the Tories.

So first he tried to put the legislation onto the back burner, but now he's finally been forced to take action.

But what he's produced makes matters worse.

The effect of this bill will mean Cameron's communications strategist, Lynton Crosby, can continue to combine his day job in Downing Street with advising his tobacco company clients, but Cancer Research UK could have its campaigning activities restricted.

Even the professional lobbyists don't like this bill, and there were lots of challenges from Tory backbenchers when Andrew Lansley opened the debate on it this week in parliament. I hope we will see some significant amendments to the bill as it proceeds. Otherwise it will be one more nail in the coffin of transparency in politics.

Of course, the Tories try to equate their millionaire donors with the trade unions' support for Labour. There's a world of difference however between a private individual with a large fortune, or a company that makes political donations without ever consulting its shareholders, and the millions of trade unionists who pay into their unions' political fund, a fund that they have to by law vote individually to maintain.

But Ed Miliband has been absolutely right to acknowledge that public trust in all political parties has been damaged. And that's why he's announced a historic change to enable individual union members to make an active, individual choice on whether they become part of the Labour Party. A consultation on how that will work will be launched after our party conference later this month.

I can't pretend this will be easy or painless. We've already seen the GMB this week scale back their financial contribution to Labour significantly. But the whole point of being a Labour movement, our whole history, is based on working people in the trade unions that represent them, and Labour party members through their local parties, who together make up our movement. We don't apologise for the "union link" as if the unions were somehow outsiders.

And Labour Party members and trade unionists work together because we share common interests and concerns. That's why Labour's campaigning locally with health unions against the Government's attack on the NHS, with teaching unions against the use of unqualified teachers in schools, with USDAW, who represent shop workers, on keeping staff safe at work, with the communications workers union against the privatisation of Royal Mail and the closure of Urmston post office.

That's the heart of the Labour/union link, campaigning together on the issues that affect people every day in our community.

That's a link I want to see strengthened, and I'm not ashamed to say so.

Best wishes Kate