Lobbying

No serving politician, of whatever party, should take money for lobbying other members of a public authority of which they are a member, for asking questions, or otherwise using their political office in a particular way.

This is already in the rules and, if, I repeat if,  the allegations being made against three peers and an MP are true, it is difficult to see how they could imagine that they have done nothing wrong.

The coalition government announced on Monday that it would bring forward a bill to create a statutory register of professional lobbyists - whose job it is to influence politicians on behalf of companies and other organisations - before the end of July.

This was in the coalition agreement and needs to be done. I hope the section of the coalition agreement about setting up a "recall system" so constituents can force a by-election if their MP has misbehaved can also be put in place soon.

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