LONDON — Andy Burnham faces demands to quickly bring in a sweeping redesign of the U.K.’s lobbying rules following a major review prompted by the Peter Mandelson scandal.
The U.K. government’s independent Ethics and Integrity Commission (EIC) said in a report Thursday that new laws are necessary to fix inadequacies in Westminster’s lobbying and government transparency systems.
It will almost certainly fall to Burnham — who is expected to become the next U.K. prime minister on July 20 — to decide whether to accept the watchdog’s 37 recommendations, which it says should be implemented ahead of the next U.K. general election, due by 2029.
Burnham has campaigned on a “change” platform, and in the aftermath of the release of documents relating to former Labour peer Mandelson’s appointment as U.K. ambassador to the U.S. said: “People have lost faith in a Westminster system which puts private vested interests above the wider public interest and concentrates too much power in too few hands.”
Under the current regime, only a small subsection of Britain’s lobbying shops are required to reveal their clients to the Office for the Registrar of Consultant Lobbyists (ORCL) — and only when direct contact is made on behalf of those clients with government ministers or senior civil servants.
The EIC said the existing system should be replaced with a new “activity-based” lobbying register requiring in-house public affairs professionals, charities and think tanks to log any lobbying activity.
Analysis by Transparency International UK of the current regime — first established in 2014 — found that only around 4 percent of lobbying activity in Westminster is being captured. The ethics body said a significant expansion of the registration requirements is needed to improve public trust after a swathe of high-profile lobbying scandals.
The review was ordered by departing Prime Minister Keir Starmer after documents released in the wake of the Mandelson scandal highlighted concerns over the relationship between senior Westminster figures and corporate interests.
The watchdog proposes new reporting requirements for those lobbying a wider pool of civil servants and government mandarins, and said special advisers — the “gatekeepers” to ministers who “wield significant influence” — should also be brought within the scope of the rules.
The independent ethics body criticized the government over its fragmented transparency system, proposing that a unified repository should be established which would collate and publish returns of lobbying activity, alongside more comprehensive details of meetings provided by both government departments and lobbyists.
The recommendations come after years of campaigning by anti-corruption groups but also from both of the U.K.’s main lobbying industry trade bodies, which have argued the lax rules have contributed to negative public sentiment about the sector.
Alastair McCapra, chief executive of the Chartered Institute of Public Relations said the recommendations had the potential to “fundamentally reshape the relationship between lobbyists and Westminster” after years of inaction.
“The next Prime Minister will need to act on standards quickly to ensure they don’t fall into the same trap,” he added. “Lobbying reform must be a day-one commitment, or it’s wholly possible public patience frays long before the one-hundred day mark.”
Burnham was contacted for comment, but did not respond in time for publication.
