It is hard to imagine a more sinister and pernicious Bill than the one which the Coalition Government is trying to sneak through parliament at present.
Most of us would welcome the proper regulation of lobbying: a perfectly legitimate activity which has gained a sleazy reputation and needs to be carried out with greater transparency.
But when the transparency of lobbying, non-party campaigning and trade union administration bill 2013-14 was published the day before MPs broke up for their summer recess, it did not just contain plans for a register of lobbyists, it also included clauses that pose a direct threat to the democratic process itself.
These include proposals which will make it either too difficult or simply impossible for charities, unions and other interest groups to campaign on political issues in the 12 months before a general election, and the Bill covers the whole of the United Kingdom, including Northern Ireland.
The Bill has been slammed by the Electoral Commission, charities and the trades unions
Currently charities and other groups can spend up to £27,000 on campaign materials in Northern Ireland during the build up to an election. The bill cuts this to £11,000 which now includes overheads and staff costs. And the limit per constituency is now £9,750 with charities being forced to register with the Election Commission if they plan to spend more than £2,000.
Breaches of the new law will be classed as criminal offences and the law is made even more draconian by a clause that widens the definition of what counts as election-related activity to include work that could affect the outcome even if that wasn’t its purpose.
These days charities don’t just go around collecting money in buckets “to give to the needy”. They stand up for the causes they represent and campaign for them.
So, for example mental health charities will campaign for more to be done about suicide and self-harm, environmental groups will campaign against fracking and other issues on the green agenda and those groups representing the vulnerable have plenty to say about Welfare Reform.
The trouble is that all these issues are political and campaigning on them during an election period counts as “election-related activity”. So if they want to point out concerns about the policies of any party, or even if they want to seek party support for their agenda, and plan to spend more than £11,000 so doing, they are going to face arrest and conviction for a serious criminal offence.
The law applies with equal force to business groups and unions. Both groups have legitimate interests in the forthcoming election. Collectively the unions represent more than 215,000 people in Northern Ireland and have a lot of important things to say about workers’ rights, employability, Corporation Tax, pensions and Welfare Reform. If they collectively exceed the £11,000 limit on any of these issues they will be criminalised.
The unions in particular have played an important role in the peace process in Northern Ireland, organising, for example, cross community demonstrations and rallies after the murder last year of Prison Officer David Black or the soldiers and police officer murdered in 2009.
Yet because these cost more than £11,000 and extremists opposed to peace will be standing at the next election to organise one will become a criminal offence.
The Bill is due to get Royal assent in Spring of next year which will mean that all these organisations will be left with a period of perhaps one month to get registered with the Electoral Commission or face prosecution.
Meanwhile the supposed comprehensive register of lobbyists will only cover around one fifth of the people who carry out these activities, because it applies only to “third party lobbying”. That means that representatives of big business will continue to be able to access government without having to register themselves or report on their own activities. It is hard to conceive of a more poorly drafted piece of legislation.
And who is ultimately responsible for constitutional reform in the UK? Step forward Nick Clegg leader of the Liberal Democrats, a party supposedly devoted to civil liberty and free democratic expression. Ah well, at least it will be harder for student groups to remind him of the pledges his party made about tuition fees!
Categories: Fiction and Creative Writing
nickgarbutt 
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