Read below the reply from my local mp. Please please please for the sake of this country retaining a sliver of democracy... write to your mps, sign petitions, anything!! This gagging law WILL be the end of free speech and our rights of freedom. Do the 1930s ring a bell here? Thank you for contacting me regarding the Lobbying Bill. I share your concerns with this Bill, there has been no consultation and it has come under sustained criticism from political and constitutional experts and the voluntary sector. The Political and Constitutional Reform Select Committee has been forced to hold emergency evidence sessions and the Chair, Graham Allen, has called the Bill a ‘dog’s breakfast’. The Government are rushing this through Parliament so that charities and campaigners will be hit before the next election. This is a wasted opportunity for political reform. Instead, the Government is using this Bill to make cheap partisan attacks on civil society and on trade unions. The Bill does not include a code of conduct backed by sanctions, so there would be no consequences for bad practice. The voluntary codes that currently govern parts of the industry have sanctions against those that breach its provisions; therefore this Coalition Government’s Bill is a step backwards. Given that so few lobbyists will have to join the register, the costs for them to do so could be incredibly steep, and it is unlikely that they would pay to be part of two registers, meaning they will be forced to leave registers that do have codes of conduct and sanctions The Labour Opposition will continue to seek to amend the Bill which will be on the floor of the House on 8th and 9th October and as it progresses through the further stages. Yours sincerely Andrew Miller MP
Posted on: Mon, 07 Oct 2013 09:55:14 +0000
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