UK human rights barrister Helen Mountfield QC has expressed concern that the Transparency of Lobbying, Non-party Campaigning and Trade Union Administration Bill (the Lobbying Bill) will have a chilling effect on charities' work.
According to a government press release, the bill is intended to “bring greater transparency to politics, fairness to political campaigning, and accuracy to trade union membership records”. Proposed reforms include the introduction of a statutory register of lobbyists and greater regulation of lobbying organisations' political campaign spending during elections.
Click here to read a press release on the Bill.
Ms Mountfield provided a legal opinion about the Bill at the request of the National Council for Voluntary Organizations (NCVO). The NCVO have written to Chloe Smith MP expressing their concern that the Bill will impede campaigning work carried out by charities on issues in the public interest, due to the legislation's broad scope and some provisions' lack of clarity.
The Cabinet Office has claimed that charities will not be covered by the legislation. However, Mountfield drew attention to a report by the Electoral Commission which said charities could be impacted.
The Chief Executive of NCVO, Stuart Etherington says “The complexity of the legislation, the lack of clarity in drafting, the amount of discretion given to the Electoral Commission in determining how the rules apply, and the remarkably burdensome reporting requirements, at a time when the government has given a commitment to reducing regulation, will collectively have the result of muting charities and groups of all sorts and sizes on the issues that matter most to them and the people they support.”
Click here to read a letter from NCVO to Chloe Smith MP.
Lobbying reform is also underway in Ireland. The Regulation of Lobbying Bill 2013 provides for a statutory online lobbyist register. A number of charities have expressed concern that appearing such a register might jeopardise their tax-exempt status. According to a government press release, the Bill has been drafted to address this concern. Consultation with charities will continue as the Bill progresses.
Click here to read a press release from the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform.
Click here to read the General Scheme of the Regulation of Lobbying Bill 2013.