Concerns for campaigning: Lobbying Bill reaches the Lords

Further to reports and campaigns:
Futures Forum: Concerns for campaigning
Futures Forum: Concerns about transparency and lobbying continue in East Devon: pt 4
Futures Forum: Concerns for campaigning: Lobbying Bill crucial stage
Futures Forum: Concerns for campaigning: Lobbying Bill crucial stage: reports

... the campaign group 38 Degrees is asking for signatures to a petition...





Urgent: today, the House of Lords votes on whether to put the brakes on the government’s plans to silence criticism in the year before an election. [1]

The ministers behind it, Andrew Lansley MP and Lord Wallace, want the Lords to think all the problems with the law are fixed. But they aren’t. Legal advice and an expert civil society commission say the gagging law urgently needs to be changed: so let’s trumpet that call loud and clear. [2]

If hundreds of thousands of us sign a petition telling the government to fix or scrap the gagging law, Lords will walk into today’s vote - and every vote after that - with a worried eye on the climbing numbers. At a glance, the strength of feeling will be clear.

Please tell Lord Wallace and Andrew Lansley to fix the gagging law or, failing that, scrap it. Click here to sign the petition now:
https://secure.38degrees.org.uk/scrap-the-gagging-law

The last three months of campaigning - adverts, leaflets, tetchy public meetings - have turned up the heat. There are whispers that the government’s commitment to the law is wobbling. But they’re hanging on and hoping they can rush the law through before the public outcry becomes impossible to ignore.

We may not elect the Lords, but they’re not immune to what ordinary people think. And right now, we need to make the outcry so big they can’t see past it.

Let’s show them that it’s not just charity head offices who care about this law - ordinary people all across the country also want to protect their freedom of speech.

How do we do this? The old-fashioned way: by weight of numbers.

And at 38 Degrees, we have numbers: there are nearly 2 million of us. If we make this petition big enough, we’ll be impossible to ignore.

Fix or scrap the gagging law: add your name to the petition today:
https://secure.38degrees.org.uk/scrap-the-gagging-law


NOTES
[1] Parliament website, Bill timetable: http://services.parliament.uk/bills/2013-14/transparencyoflobbyingnonpartycampaigningandtradeunionadministration.html
[2] Commission on Civil Society and Democratic Engagement: ‘Non-party Campaigning Ahead of Elections’: http://civilsocietycommission.info/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/civil-society-commission-report-WEB.pdf

---

38 Degrees | Scrap the gagging law



HAVE YOU SEEN THE PAPERS?

OCTOBER 22ND, 2013 BY REBECCA FALCON

We’re in the papers! Today, The Times, The Guardian and The Telegraph all contain this advert helped pay for by 38 Degrees members:

The advert, which reads “We don’t always have the same opinions, but we believe in the freedom to share them”, brings together campaigning organisations from across the political spectrum to ask the House of Lords to stand against the gagging law.

It’s a pretty incredible advert. The Countryside Alliance is pictured standing next to the League Against Cruel Sports – that doesn’t happen every day! It’s a strong statement that, across the board, the gagging bill is considered poor legislation that needs to be kicked out.

38 Degrees | Blog | Have you seen the papers?
.
.
.