On that very point, let me assure the Leader of the House that many Opposition Members, particularly myself, believe that lobbying is at the very heart of our democracy. We should have it, but it should be regulated and should be transparent. What worries us is, first, that many charities believe that the Bill will have deleterious effect, but secondly, we are worried about all the people that are left out—the big law firms, for example. Many of those firms are 50% lobbyists and 50% lawyers, yet they will not be tackled by the Bill. Big accountancy firms that are full of lobbyists are the same, as are the in-house lobbyists of these major companies. Why are they being left out of this register?
Transparency of Lobbying, Non-Party Campaigning and Trade Union Administration Bill
Proceeding contribution from
Barry Sheerman
(Labour)
in the House of Commons on Tuesday, 3 September 2013.
It occurred during Debate on bills on Transparency of Lobbying, Non-Party Campaigning and Trade Union Administration Bill.
Type
Proceeding contribution
Reference
567 c172 
Session
2013-14
Chamber / Committee
House of Commons chamber
Subjects
Librarians' tools
Timestamp
2017-06-19 14:45:54 +0100
URI
http://hansard.intranet.data.parliament.uk/Commons/2013-09-03/13090336000231
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