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The Labour Government’s response to calls to clean up the lobbying industry has so far been even weaker than the last Conservative administration, according to analysis by independent experts at Spotlight on Corruption.
The anti-corruption campaigners’ assessment shows that on two out of eight recommendations on improving Government transparency, which had been accepted by Rishi Sunak’s Government, the new Labour Government has either backtracked or made no concrete commitment to further reform.
The non-profit group has assessed whether the Government plans to implement recommendations made by the Committee on Standards in Public Life (CSPL), which have been backed up by parliament’s Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee (PACAC). The reports followed a raft of lobbying scandals under previous Governments.
These include “significant” commitments made by the last Government to create a new central database of Government lobbying data, and moving from quarterly to monthly releases of information on who ministers are meeting. The last Government agreed to move to monthly reporting, though didn’t implement this in time for the General Election.
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On four further recommendations made by watchdogs, on improving transparency reporting by the Government, there has been no concrete commitment made by the new Government.
These include ensuring informal lobbying activity is properly declared, and stronger sanctions for failing to release information on time and accurately.
Four other recommendations to bolster the current Lobbying Register have also yet to be committed to by Starmer’s government, including on closing significant loopholes that allow foreign lobbyists to avoid scrutiny, and requiring more details about what meetings with senior politicians were about.
Since coming to power however, the Government has tightened rules on the second jobs MPs can do, including fully banning MPs taking part in paid lobbying work. That fulfilled a manifesto pledge to immediately “ban MPs from taking up paid advisory or consultancy roles”.
Labour says it plans to enforce restrictions on ministers lobbying for the companies they used to regulate “with meaningful sanctions for breaching the rules.” The Commons leader Lucy Powell has also launched a new Modernisation Committee which is looking at further restrictions on MPs’ outside work, which could include clamping down on paid media gigs with the likes of GB News or LBC.
Currently, the “revolving door regulator” ACOBA has no power to enforce its recommendations or implement sanctions if former politicians ignore their advice, as has happened repeatedly with Boris Johnson.
Last week, Nick Thomas-Symonds, the Paymaster General, told Parliament that the new Government is: “Committed to transparency around lobbying. That is why we will have regular transparency updates. The approach that we take will frankly be in stark contrast with that of the Government who preceded us.”
However, in October, Baroness Twycross for the Government told the House of Lords that “transparency data for ministerial meetings and overseas travel, special advisers and senior officials will continue to be published quarterly as it has been under previous administrations.”
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So far, Labour ministers have only committed to create a new register on ministerial gifts and hospitality, which will be released monthly.
A Government response to the PACAC report released in May 2024 is still outstanding.
There is another glaring problem with lobbying right now – we still have little information on which lobbyists or companies the new Government has been meeting.
A spokesperson for Spotlight on Corruption said: “With current transparency updates running at least two months late, it is not clear whether the first information about who has been meeting officials and ministers in the new Government will be released later this month or in February.
“Either way it will mean that the public will not know anything about these meetings until a full 6-8 months after the new Government took office.”
Susan Hawley, Executive Director of Spotlight on Corruption added: “Lobbying transparency is fundamental to ensuring Government accountability. The new Government has a major opportunity here to show it really does mean to do things differently than the last one.
“It is essential that it comes forward urgently with plans to move to monthly meetings, and expand transparency to special advisors and informal lobbying. It should also give an update on how it intends to implement the CSPL recommendations on standards across the board.”
Even the lobbying industry is calling for stronger transparency rules to boost trust. The CEO of the Chartered Institute of Public Relations (CIPR), Alastair McCapra, said: “The lobbying industry is clear that it would welcome the opportunity to be held to higher standards. The Labour party showed real fervour towards lobbying reform as the official Opposition, but that initial enthusiasm has been replaced with a worrying silence, even as their poll ratings continue to fall…
“It’s time to stop tinkering around the edges and implement a comprehensive roadmap to meeting the CSPL’s recommendations.”
Spotlight on Corruption has branded the new administration’s approach to lobbying transparency “lacklustre” and called for Commons committees to hold new ministers to account.
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Three years ago, in November 2021, the Committee on Standards in Public Life (CSPL) made recommendations for improving lobbying transparency as part of its overview of the UK’s framework for standards in public life.
It delivered what Spotlight on Corruption called a “scathing assessment” of the current state of affairs, finding: “The current system of transparency around lobbying is not fit for purpose.”
The report added: “It is too difficult to find out who is lobbying Government; information is often released too late; descriptions of the content of Government meetings are ambiguous and lack necessary detail; transparency data is scattered, disparate, and not easily cross-referenced; and information in the public interest is often excluded from data releases completely.”
All Governments have failed to get to grips with secretive lobbying and the risks of undue corporate influence on politicians. Of the nine recommendations made by CSPL to enhance lobbying transparency, just three were taken forward under the last Government, another two were rejected out of hand, and four were only partially implemented or committed to.
The Prime Minister’s official spokesman told Byline Times on Wednesday: “The Government is committed to the manifesto commitments on returning politics to public service.” They added that ministers are also committed to “protecting democracy by strengthening the rules and donations to political parties”. No 10 insists the Government will set out further steps “in due course”.
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