The shadow leader of the Commons, Angela Eagle, will accuse the government of seeking to gag charities in the piece of legislation called the transparency of lobbying, non-party campaigning and trade union administration bill.
The government has been criticised for a little-noticed element of the bill, which it has hailed as an attempt to impose curbs on lobbyists. It will curtail the ability of charities and other groups to campaign on political matters in the year before a general election. The Electoral Commission has warned in a private briefing note that the plans are flawed and, in part, unworkable.
Third-party groups, such as charities, can currently spend up to £989,000 in the year before an election on material that could have an impact on the outcome of the poll. The bill cuts this to £390,000 and widens the definition of election-related activity.
Eagle will deliver her warning at the University of East London where Cameron said in February 2010 – three months before the general election – that Britain's lobbying industry was the "next big scandal" after the parliamentary expenses furore.
Eagle will say: "We agree that keeping the big money out of politics is key in bringing people back into it. The big money in politics today is spent by political parties not by charities and campaigning groups. Yet this bill looks to gag the latter, while doing nothing to curtail the former which spent 10 times more than all third parties put together in the runup to the last general election.
"No one supports this bill. It is a bad piece of legislation that will take our politics backwards. My message to David Cameron today is this: think again, rewrite this bill so it properly regulates the lobbying industry, doesn't attack the big society which you once championed, and takes the big money out of politics. If you do, we will back you and we can take a small step towards building the better politics we so urgently need to see."
Eagle will also warn of the "Crosbyisation" of the Conservative party now that lobbyist Lynton Crosby has been hired to run the next Tory general election campaign. Cameron came under fire before the parliamentary summer recess after the government shelved plans to introduce mandatory plain cigarette packaging. Crosby's company advised the tobacco giant Philip Morris but he insists that he did not lobby, nor advise, the prime minister on tobacco policy.
Crosby has been criticised for running divisive election campaigns on behalf of the centre-right Liberal party in his native Australia. Eagle will say: "Just before the last general election, David Cameron came to this university and promised he would fix what he called 'our broken politics'. But more than three years on, it's worth reflecting on the state of our politics after David Cameron has had more than half a parliament as prime minister.
"The truth is that what we are seeing is the 'Crosbyisation' of the Conservative party. David Cameron's politics has now come down to trying to exploit the problems the country faces rather than solving them.
"The Tories approach to immigration is to whip up fears with shameless ad vans being sent round the UK with ill-judged messages cynically designed to divide communities … On social security, rather than tackling the long-term drivers of spending, David Cameron simply seeks to divide the country by labelling anyone who receives support as a shirker."
Original Article
Source: theguardian.com
Author: Nicholas Watt
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