In our view, there are several key omissions in the Bill which have the potential to significantly undermine the potential effectiveness of these important reforms.
A series of political scandals in recent years have exposed significant weaknesses in the UK’s system for the regulation of lobbying. The UK’s standards landscape must be brought up to date to ensure that integrity and ethics in government are regulated in a way that befits a modern democracy; strengthening the Lobbying Act is a central plank of that process. Enhancing the UK’s system for lobbying would ensure greater transparency and more equal access to government, with positive consequences for public decision-making and the use of public resources.
The proposed regime should not be introduced until BEIS has completed the proposed reforms to Companies House giving the register powers to query, verify and remove inaccurate company data.
