Five policies to fix the political class
The main political parties have all been jostling to respond to the ‘cost of living crisis’. But they’ve all failed to respond to the underlying issue - that in the eyes of voters, the political class lives on another planet. Here are five proposals that might help.
Transparency of the motives for the Lobbying Bill
“As political parties continue to shrink and atrophy, … [c]lumsy attempts to clamp down on non-party campaigning won’t drive people back into party membership.” Jon Rogers examines the political intentions and implications of the Lobbying Bill.
Why the Government’s lobbying bill is a defence of shadow politics
The Government’s Lobbying Bill has been described as a “dog’s breakfast”. It’s worse that - it’s a defence of the shadow politics that is blighting democracy.
Are organisations hotwired to look towards central government?
“Does the existing policy-making process mean that the public shout from afar at politicians, while wealthy and/or connected interests butter them up out of sight?” Puffles argues for opening-up policymaking to much greater public scrutiny.
Shadow politics: Tinkering with the rules around lobbying won’t clean-up politics - abolishing lobbying will
Lobbying - the “next big scandal waiting to happen” according to David Cameron - has finally hit the headlines. The Government has promised to act, but the problem isn’t the rules regulating lobbying - it’s lobbying itself.
Why a statutory register of lobbyists alone won’t solve the problem
Summary Further thoughts following the Sunday Times’ sting on Tim Yeo MP – looking at which lobbyists might not be covered by such a register Another weekend, another lobbying sting about what a politician might or might not do. This post follows on from my previous post about lobbying on how social media can be used to […]
How MPs and Whitehall can use social media to shine a spotlight on lobbying
Summary With lobbying back in the spotlight following recent headlines, can Whitehall and Westminster use social media to bring much-needed transparency into policy making? One of the things that continues to disturb me is how the structures and processes within our political and state institutions are struggling to deal with the pressures that people’s use of […]
Whatever happened to open government and open policy? A scorecard
After being elected Prime Minister in 2010 David Cameron committed the UK to having “the most open and transparent government in the world.” Here’s a brief - inevitably partial and contestable - ‘scorecard’ on the Government’s progress.