Government Affairs Blog

Landmark report on the industry to be published this month

The Hansard Society's report, 'Lobbying: Friend or Foe?' is due out at the end of this month.

Hansard tell us that the report will address the following questions -

Is lobbying an important part of the democratic process or does it undermine democracy by placing power and influence in the hands of those big businesses and charities able to pay for the services of lobbyists?

Does the changing nature of politics represent a ‘democratisation’ of lobbying?

Do negative perceptions of ‘the lobbying industry’ in the media need to be challenged in the light of new, grassroots activism and the rise of single issue politics?

As part of the project a group of 100 MP's and 50 political journalists have been surveyed on their opinions regarding lobbying.

We await the report with interest.