Transparency of Lobbying, Non-Party Campaigning and Trade Union Administration Bill: Lords amendments

UPDATE ON PING PONG STAGES

• Lord amendments were debated in the Commons on 22 January 2014. The Political and Constitutional Reform Committee report on 22 January 2014 called for further reforms to be made to the Bill. It tabled a series of amendments which it wished to see made at Lords amendments in the Commons. The Lords Amendments debate was subject to a Programme Motion no 3, passed immediately before debate began.

• During the Commons debates on 22 January 2014, the House debated part 1 and rejected non–Government amendment 1 (special advisers) by 311 to 258. It then debated part 2, and did not accept the non-Government Amendments 108 (staff costs) and 26 (constituency limits). The vote on amendment 108 was by 310 to 278 and on 26 it was 314 to 274. The subsequent Commons Reasons and Amendments in Lieu, published on 23 January 2014, was debated in the Lords on 28 January, where the Lords accepted all outstanding Commons amendments. The vote on a non-Government amendment on staff costs (Motion c1) was tied at 245, so the Bill was not amended and will pass into law.

The Bill was not amended in committee in the Lords, but several amendments were made on Report. Two non-Government amendments were passed, one to add special advisers to the people with whom contact counts as lobbying, another to exempt staff costs from campaign expenditure for third parties. Government amendments covered a range of issues, such as requiring registered lobbyists to declare any voluntary code of conduct to which they subscribe, raising the thresholds for registration of third party campaigners, several changes to the detail of what must be declared by such campaigners, and allowing a shorter regulated period for the next general election, so as to avoid a clash with the referendum on independence in Scotland. There will also be a review of Part 2 (third party campaigning) after the 2015 general election. At third reading another non-Government amendment was passed restricting the application of the new constituency limits for third party campaignig to election material and un-solicited phone calls. The Political and Constitutional Reform Committee published a report into the Bill on 22 January 2014 calling for further changes to the whole Bill, including Part 1 on lobbying.