Dear Mr Swire,
Political
lobbying is a pernicious canker in our democracy that needs to be reined in and
regulated. The Daily Telegraph has exposed its damaging effects here in East
Devon, where the resulting Feniton by-election result showed a massive popular
vote of no confidence in the ruling Party. Now there is bewildered indignation
locally at the decision of East Devon District Council officers to suspend sine
die the councillors' independent forum to investigate the apparent corruption
over several years in the publicly funded lobby group the East Devon Business
Forum.
This sort of thing
undermines the whole stability of our political system. There is something
rotten in the state that I know Parliament is aiming to set right in the coming
week.
However there are concerns
that part 2 of the proposed "Lobbying Bill" threatens a vital part of
British democracy. Many well respected campaign groups, charities and community
groups are warning that they'd be gagged for the entire year before a general
election.
I hope you can reassure me
that this is scare-mongering or that there has been an error in the drafting of
the Bill that will be corrected easily.
Please can you raise these
concerns at second reading on Tuesday? Please assure me that you will support amendments
which genuinely address these concerns, and that if the plans aren't changed
you will call for them to be scrapped.
You can read more about
the problems with the plans here:
NCVO briefing:
Electoral Commission briefing:
The view of an electoral
law specialist:
Legal opinion from BWB
Yours,
Robert Crick
Sidmouth
On 31 August 2013 23:27, SWIRE, Hugo <hugo.swire.mp@parliament.uk> wrote:
The Rt Hon Hugo Swire MP
Member of Parliament for East Devon
House of Commons, Westminster, London, SW1A 0AA
Tel: 0207 219 8173 Fax: 0207 219 1895
Website: Hugo Swire | Member of Parliament for East Devon
Thank you for your email, which has been safely received, and will be dealt with as soon as possible. If you are a constituent of East Devon, please ensure you have included your full address, postcode and telephone number in all correspondence.
Whilst individual constituency enquiries will continue to be answered by email or letter, due to the vast increase in the volume of campaign emails now being generated I can no longer guarantee replying to these individually and will therefore post my response on my website.
For clarity, as a Government Minister I am precluded, by convention, from signing any Early Day Motions as doing so is likely to breach the Ministerial Code’s rules on collective responsibility.
This message is generated for all emails addressed to hugo.swire.mp@parliament.uk
2nd September 2013
Dear Mr Swire,
Thanks for your
message. I recognise how busy you are and how your role on the front bench
constrains your freedom to act independently. But I want to take this
opportunity to clarify that there are two separate issues that I believe need
your urgent attention.
The first is the growing
scandal about Lobbying in East Devon District where the local paper reports that
an unnamed officer has cancelled the scrutiny meeting scheduled for tonight and
has again vetoed the topic for investigation which was agreed by the Councillors
(our elected representatives) a year ago. This scrutiny group was set up
following the widespread outrage in early 2012 at secretive and potentially
corrupt practices by the local lobbying group, the EDBF. Nearly four thousand
East Devon residents took to the streets about this in November, the Daily
Telegraph splashed an expose in March, there were massive votes of no confidence
in local Conservative Party candidates in the May elections, and still there is
secrecy and a suppression of democratic accountability at the higher levels of
local government. This must be a concern for our MP, if only because the May
2015 General Election is approaching.
The other issue is a
widespread fear that the poor drafting of the Bill intended to rein in such
lobbyists, which is before Parliament tomorrow 3rd Sept, means that
non-commercial campaigning groups such as Amnesty, Sustrans, CPRE, the BMA, etc.
even including our own Sid Vale Association, will potentially be gagged for a
full twelve months before any general election. I am sure this is not what you
would have intended but if it goes through as worded and has such an effect
there will be further outrage across the political spectrum from your
constituents.
I trust you will report back
to the community on your contribution to tomorrow's debate at the earliest
opportunity.
Robert Crick
Futures Forum: Concerns for campaigning
Futures Forum: Concerns about transparency and lobbying continue in East Devon: pt 1
Futures Forum: Concerns about transparency and lobbying continue in East Devon: pt 2
Futures Forum: Concerns about transparency and lobbying continue in East Devon: pt 3
.
.
.
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