UK's Legislation On Lobbying: A Call for Reform

In the world we live in today, with virtually no barriers for accessing information, one thing has prevailed. People want to be involved in the decisions taken that affect them, from referenda to petitions, the willingness to take public action has massively increased. In the US and Canada, for example, transparency has become key to public policy and government, especially in slightly taboo topics such as lobbying, where meetings are publicized in order to let the public know how decisions taken will affect them, and how public funds are beings spent. However, here, on our side of the pond, legislation is weak and out-dated on lobbying.  

Few in the UK actually know who is influencing our public policy and why; the “Westminster Bubble” is perhaps being the only place that has the information that we, the tax-paying citizens demand to see. The narrowness of lobbying legislation in the UK is striking, with lobbyists only having to provide their name, their address and names of other partners and investors in the company before setting up one of the approximately 2000 meetings with government ministers that were set up just in one quarter. This not only affects you, the citizen personally, but affects the UK governmental system as a whole. It highlights the inefficiency of the government, and brings to light a government failure.  

Regulatory capture, when the regulator (the government) starts thinking like the lobbying industry, is a great risk given the narrowness of the legislation in the UK. When meetings have happened between individuals as well as firms with government ministers or other elected officials, the reasons provided by the government have been nothing more than discussions on “trading and investment”. Nothing short of insulting.  

Hence, a logical solution comes to my mind, reform. Frankly, reform of legislation in this field is necessary and long overdue. With 67% of the UK’s adults (according to the Chartered Institute for Public Relations) looking to find out more about the people seeking to influence MPs and Ministers, I think the time has come for this change. Through the implementation of regulation that requires all elected officials as well as government ministers to publish the minutes of their meetings with firms and individuals, I think the population well be much better off, not only increasing the level of transparency in UK government, but also giving their population a feeling of trust that is vital to the overall political atmosphere of the country. Furthermore, in my opinion this well not only boost the efficiency of government, but will also mobilize the population politically, perhaps leading to greater trust in UK democracy, a sentiment that will have positive repercussions such as higher turnouts in elections and prevents the rise of populist movements, which from my liberal perspective are one of the great dangers of our time.  

Although such as change will cause upset among the political elites, and will find resistance in Parliament, I strongly believe that it is vital to the survival of our democracy, solving an issue that is so important to so many citizens of the UK.