Lobbying Roundtable Summary Paper

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Lobbying Roundtable Summary paper,

Communication & Conflict Conference, 7 September 2007.

The Lobbying Roundtable convened at the University of Strathclyde in September 2007

considered the role and nature of contemporary lobbying, why it is under renewed

scrutiny at both European and UK levels, and tried to begin to rethink relations betweengovernment, elected representatives and outside interests. The roundtable began with the

recognition that to date the focus of concern over lobbying has been upon the role of

commercial lobbyists who act on behalf of multiple clients. It was suggested that we needto consider all types of lobbying activity in order to develop robust and workable rules.

Dr Will Dinan introduced the roundtable, and offered a brief overview of the debates on

lobbying transparency in Brussels, under the European Transparency Initiative (ETI), andat Westminster. The emphasis was placed on what principles should underpin relations

between lobbyists and elected representatives and officials. Set in the context of declining

levels of trust and participation in politics it was argued that a radical step change in

transparency and accountability were needed to revive confidence in contemporarydecision making and governance.

Trish Marwick (MSP, Scottish Parliament Corporate Body) spoke about the experience

of lobbying at Holyrood since the creation of the Scottish Parliament in 1999. In

particular she reflected on the lobbying inquiry held by the Scottish Parliament’s

Standards Committee between 1999 and 2003, which took place in the face of fierceopposition from some political parties, officials and the lobbying industry. The lessons

drawn from this were that while lobbying is a legitimate part of the democratic process it

does require some form of regulation. The evidence from this inquiry illustrated theweaknesses of industry self-regulation. Marwick also believes that the emphasis on

commercial lobbying is unhelpful, and that lobbying regulation should include other forms of lobbying, including the voluntary sector, as demonstrated by recent concernsabout visitor passes and cross party groups at Holyrood.

Jo Nove (Greenhaus, Chair of Scotland Committee, APPC) outlined the case for industryself-regulation and gave an account of how the APPC expects its members to operate.

She stressed that there must not be any financial relationship between a lobbyist, client

and elected representatives and claimed that the APPC management committee has

become much more proactive in addressing problematic practices. An important featureof the contemporary lobbying landscape has been the entry of professional consultants

like lawyers and accountants into the business. These groups argue that their existing

professional codes of conduct take precedence over those self-regulatory codes governinglobbying conduct.

Jeff Cuthbert (chair of the Standards Committee at the National Assembly for Wales)outlined a different experience of lobbying from the Scottish case, reflecting the smaller

size of the devolved institutions in Wales, and until recently, its more limited powers

confined to secondary legislation. To date there has not been any issue facing the

National Assembly for Wales which has demonstrated the need for a register of lobbyists.



Cuthbert indicated that he would be disappointed by the introduction of any measures

which limited the capacity of organisations to make representations to the Assembly. He

reflected also on his role as chair of the All-Party Group on Health Living, which issupported by a secretariat provided by a lobbying company representing interests in the

pharmacy sector, which is characterised as a successful partnership between elected

representatives and outside interests fit for purpose in a small institution.

Olivier Hoedemann (Corporate Europe Observatory, Amsterdam) gave an overview of

the lobbying scene in Brussels, and the ongoing debate since 2005 in the EuropeanCommission and Parliament over lobbying transparency under the ETI. He pointed out

that the Commission has major reservations about the capacity of the lobbying industry to

self-police, and noted the transparency on offer from the lobbying industry only extended

to the lobbied – there are no provisions for external transparency so that the public canknow how and where lobbying pressure is being applied. This is a particularly worrying

aspect of European lobbying, given the dominance of corporate lobbying in Brussels.

Ken Silverstein (Washington correspondent, Harpers magazine, and author on lobbying)discussed recent developments in US lobbying law and spoke about some of his

investigative journalism on the lobbying industry. In terms of transparency, better lobbying and accountability Silverstein could only see the virtue of a lobbying register as

a first step toward managing relationships between politicians and lobbyists (who all have

their own interests) and expressed his surprise that such a register does not exist

anywhere in the UK.

Some of the themes and issues that emerged in the questions and answers session touched

on the imbalances in resources and power between commercial and public interests inlobbying; the tension between creating a register and creating barriers to access and

participation; external transparency, public and lobbyist record keeping; the

parliamentary nature of cross party groups and the lobbying interest in these fora; the roleof journalists in scrutinizing policy making and influence.

There were areas of general consensus amongst the panel and audience, including:

• The need for greater transparency and accountability;

• The need to include all lobbyists in any registration / regulation framework;

• The need for Parliament and Government to take a lead on this issue.

There was less agreement on the following, but they emerged as important areas for

further deliberation:

•Whether a register might create a barrier to access for small organizations. Someargued that this is more of a myth than a serious objection to a lobbyists register;

• Whether the public can rely on the political class to develop a system to govern

relations with outside interest, or whether an independent ombudsman to overseelobbying is needed;

• Whether self-regulatory systems can ever have public confidence and what can be

done about those lobbyists who refuse to join such systems, save introduce amandatory register.

Lobbying Roundtable Summary Paper

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