Transparency of Lobbying, Non-Party Campaigning and Trade Union Administration Bill

I am rather appalled, Madam Deputy Speaker, that I have had to be pulled up on that procedural ma...

I beg to move, That the clause be read a Second time.

With this it will be convenient to discuss the following:

Government amendment 28.

Am...

I want to use this opportunity to draw the attention of the House to the report by the House of L...

It seems to me that the kernel of the problem is that this is a Bill to regulate lobbying. An imp...

I hear what my right hon. Friend says, but it is not generally asserted that, for example, corres...

The hon. Gentleman will recall that in the previous Parliament there was concern about the way th...

I recognise the sentiment the hon. Gentleman expresses, and I share his outrage at any abuse that...

I am following my hon. Friend’s argument closely. Rather than my standing here in the railway int...

I wholly agree with my right hon. Friend. I just want to emphasise that the amendments I am speak...

Further to that exchange, does my hon. Friend not see my case, which is that if the Bill is in da...

I will return to that matter, but when my right hon. Friend employs the word “privilege” in that ...

My hon. Friend is reaching the nub of the issue. With something as delicate as article IX of the ...

My hon. Friend has, typically, put more pithily than I could a complex legal argument. By drawing...

My hon. Friend and my hon. Friend the Member for Stone (Mr Cash) tabled amendment 1, which is exa...

I have moved new clause 1, but I shall wait to hear what the Minister says in response to the deb...

The hon. Gentleman has made an extremely interesting speech, which thus far has touched on issues...

I note the earlier debate on the guillotine. All I can say is thank God for the other place. The ...

It is a pleasure to follow the hon. Member for Harwich and North Essex (Mr Jenkin), who made an e...

Does the hon. Gentleman agree that it is very important that a shadow spokesman should be able to...

The right hon. Gentleman and I do not agree on much, but we agree on that extremely valuable poin...

I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman for taking a second intervention so quickly. Will he add to h...

The hon. Lady makes a very good point and underlines the problems there would have been had the G...

The hon. Member for North Down (Lady Hermon) has made an extremely valuable point. It shows how n...

I agree with the hon. Gentleman, and I want to explain how those two paragraphs arrived in the Bi...

May I raise with my hon. Friend a question that he himself has raised? There is a difference betw...

If my hon. Friend, who is an expert on these questions, will bear with me, I will come later to s...

At least eight or nine major charities are headquartered in my constituency. Does he believe that...

I think that I did the hon. Gentleman an enormous service back in the 2005 general election, but ...

I am most grateful to the hon. Gentleman, who has been very generous in giving way. I have taken ...

I commend the hon. Lady for her work with the National Autism Society, not least because it does ...

rose—

The Leader of the House.

rose—

May I say to the Leader of the House that I did not realise that Mr Cash wished to come in? I cal...

I am sorry for inhibiting my right hon. Friend the Leader of the House for a short moment.

...

I am most grateful to my hon. Friend for giving way at this point. He says “around the world”. It...

That is the very point I am seeking to make. I would also point out that a number of other countr...

I need to say something, just to help you, because obviously I know that you want to discuss the ...

Absolutely, Mr Deputy Speaker, and there is no wider arena than your remit. Having said that, thi...

That is excellent news.

Tagged on to this debate is a report by the Committee on Standards and Privileges, which I chair,...

I thank the Government and the Leader of the House and his team for paying attention to the repor...

On the two issues that we were concerned about, the Government have seen sense. This hasty piece ...

A couple of Opposition Members have raised the issue of paid advocacy and I want to reassure anyo...

I do not wish to detain the House for long. I agree entirely with my right hon. Friend the Member...

I am grateful to hon. Members for their contributions to this short debate, and particularly to m...

I have listened carefully to the Leader of House’s explanation and am slightly concerned. Paragra...

My hon. Friend the Member for Harwich and North Essex explained the matter well. A provision was ...

I am listening carefully to what the Leader of the House is saying. Of course, all this depends o...

I understand that completely. If I have not explained my point fully, let me explain it again. Un...

I am most grateful to the Leader of the House for his very helpful explanation. Just to be sure, ...

Yes, I can give the hon. Lady that assurance. She would not be affected by the Bill as she would ...

The Leader of the House has been at his most reasonable in the past few minutes, but he has not y...

The hon. Gentleman knows from our previous conversation that we talked to the House authorities a...

I am grateful to my right hon. Friend for being utterly clear about the intention of this Bill, w...

I beg to move, That the clause be read a Second time.

7.45 pm

With this it will be convenient to discuss the following:

New clause 6—Duty to report—

Reasonable though the Leader of the House was about the previous set of amendments, he will have ...

The wording of new clause 4, to which the hon. Gentleman is speaking, is curious. It states:

Indeed not, although I do not see the hon. Lady’s concern about the wording. She will be aware of...

To clarify, is it the Opposition’s position in the new clause that some financial relations betwe...

We are seeking to establish the principle that there should be a code of conduct dealing with the...

I am so sorry to be persistent, but I am even more confused than when I made my first interventio...

The hon. Lady is right that it is very difficult to see how any direct financial relationship cou...

I have followed the debate with a great deal of interest. It seems to me that the additional safe...

I say gently to the hon. Lady that I understand her frustration with the process, but we are tryi...

I have a degree of sympathy with what the hon. Gentleman is saying. Many of us have concerns abou...

I have to disagree with the hon. Lady. If we can get the rules for lobbyists right—or as right as...

rose—

rose—

I call Graham Allen; Ministers must wait.

I am happy to give way to the right hon. Gentleman, even before I have said anything, if he wants...

You have the floor, Mr Allen. Please continue.

I am just trying to be helpful.

My hon. Friend the Member for Harrow West (Mr Thomas) has g...

I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman for allowing me to intervene. I think it would be most helpfu...

I would be pleased to do so. My Select Committee, composed of Members of all parties, pulled toge...

I have just observed that other members of the Joint Committee on Human Rights are not in the Cha...

I think that if I am allowed to speak for long enough in replying to the right hon. Gentleman, th...

Will my hon. Friend give way?

Ah! The Chair of the Committee is present.

But not in my usual place.

My hon. Friend has made an important point. As he knows, tomorro...

rose—

Order. The amendment to which the hon. Member for Nottingham North (Mr Allen) is speaking relates...

I am very sorry, Madam Deputy Speaker. Two experienced Members led me astray, and diverted me fro...

The hon. Gentleman seems to be saying that we are not where we would like to be, and that an oppo...

rose—

Order. The Members who are present this evening are indeed experienced, and the hon. Member for N...

I must ask Members to stop tempting me to stray, because I have some important points to make abo...

My hon. Friend is making an interesting and powerful point. Did his Select Committee consider the...

Again, my hon. Friend is seeking to take advantage of my good nature. Madam Deputy Speaker gives ...

rose—

I hope that the hon. Lady is not going to do something similar and get me into trouble.

I would never lead an hon. Member astray. The hon. Gentleman has raised a serious issue to do wit...

I do not want to incur the wrath of the Deputy Speaker, so I had better not say anything on claus...

The hon. Gentleman rightly makes the point that if the topic on which the lobbying is taking plac...

That is why I think sorting out the information provided in the register is essential to this par...

As the hon. Gentleman will have realised from the last debate, I have great concerns about a spec...

The hon. Lady made a telling intervention about that in our last set of debates. I am sure she wi...

I know what the hon. Member for St Albans (Mrs Main) is talking about, and she made an important ...

We need a dose of common sense here, so that the stuff in the public domain is not onerous for al...

I am grateful to colleagues for the two speeches on this group of amendments.

Let me start ...

Will the Leader of the House give way?

I was going to answer the point that the hon. Gentleman made earlier, so let me give him an examp...

The right hon. Gentleman is now making a different point from that made by the hon. Member for No...

I do not agree. The consequence of large-scale statutory codes is considerable expenditure.