It's time to disrupt UK lobbying
Scott Benton’s suspension from the Conservative party for allegedly bending the lobbying rules has highlighted the problem faced by the public affairs industry.
Self-evidently, the objective of lobbyists is to progress the aims of their clients by convincing lawmakers to adopt their objectives. Unfortunately, money talks and, although the days of outright bribing parliamentarians have hopefully gone - at least in the UK - it is clear that it is still possible to offer ‘inducements’ to get your message across.
Benton’s argument is that he was given hospitality valued at ￡295 - ￡5 below the rate at which he had to make a declaration. In exchange, he allegedly raised the interests of gambling investors in parliament. The story having broken in the media, he immediately referred himself to the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards.
This and countless other examples of perceived corruption in our politics highlight the need for a root and branch reform of the lobbying industry.
To the best of my knowledge, only one organisation has made a serious attempt to do this. PolicyMogul - a start-up that supports public affairs professionals - has created ‘PolicyInfluence,’ a platform which enables any organisation to put their policy asks, briefing material or news releases before MPs and peers. And it’s completely free of charge.
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On the other side of the coin, parliamentarians can bypass the problem of being inundated by emails from charities and lobbyists. Instead, they can use PolicyMogul to find information that is relevant to them. Over 500 MPs, peers and staff have already registered. And, of course, it’s free for them too.
Before the lobbying industry can be properly disrupted, parliamentarians will have to change the rules themselves. Turkeys voting for Christmas? Not quite. Certainly, that would be the argument in America where it is perfectly acceptable - indeed expected - that the more that lawmakers are paid (bribed?), the more likely it will be that they will speak and vote on behalf of their paymasters. Hence the success of the National Rifle Association and why hundreds of Americans are killed each year as a result of gun crime.
But in the UK we have a chance. Over the years the rules over payments to MPs and peers have become more transparent, a movement initiated by John Major when he was Prime Minister. We now need to make those rules tighter. And ideally, the whole culture of ‘cash for questions’ will be completely irradiated. But for that to happen, there has to be an alternative. And that’s where PolicyInfluence could really make a difference.