Still, the Lobbying Bill can't
find a single supporter outside the government's inner circle. Though some
groups looked perilously close to that on Friday after Andrew Lansley announced
minor concessions to charities' needs.
Lansley's small concessions have
yet to be fully outlined, but it looks like they still don't make the cut.
ACEVO members' reactions certainly indicate the battle must continue, to push
for the Bill to be withdrawn and redrafted with the usual, proper scrutiny as the
Political and Constitutional Reform Committee suggests.
The fact is that the Bill remains
fundamentally flawed. Our issue with it is not simply how it affects charities,
but the fact it suggests they, and not other groups in society, are to blame
for the public's loss of trust in politics.
In truth, as ACEVO has led the
way in arguing, the Bill still punishes civil society for the problems caused
by corporate lobbying and by politicians themselves.
To return to one case I used in
my Times article last week, Lansley's amendments will
perhaps leave Cancer Research UK slightly less constrained in their campaigns
for cancer research funding or for restrictions on cigarette advertising. But
the Bill still does nothing to tackle the other side of the coin: tobacco
lobbyists covertly pressuring government to soften up their policy on plain
cigarette packaging, for example.
So we should redouble our efforts
to get this Bill withdrawn. Even in this week's form, it still misses the
fundamental opportunity it has to make our politics more transparent and
trusted. Minor tinkering is not good enough. We need to go back to the drawing
board.
No comments:
Post a Comment