Declaring all meetings is completely impractical

As a former (and proud) member of the industry I’ve always understood the value that public affairs brings to the legislative and policy development and scrutiny process; now I live and breathe that process, it is my view that the industry deserves more than just an understanding, but a real appreciation. If we didn’t have active lobbying, we would have less informed debate, poorly drafted legislation and in many respects a more powerful Executive.
Unfortunately, scandals such as the recent one involving Adam Werritty put a negative spotlight on the industry and immediately provoke a knee-jerk response from those who quite often have a limited understanding of what lobbying is, or who lobbyists are.  
Looking at this from a parliamentary perspective, some of the suggestions for reform to the industry are totally naive. For example, one response to the Werritty stories was that MPs should declare all their meetings with ‘lobbyists’. A good idea on the face of it, except it is completely impractical, not least because it is hard to define precisely what is and what isn’t lobbying.
Under this proposal, would I have to declare my meeting with my constituent Phil who, as the local Breakthrough Breast Cancer campaign co-ordinator, recently came to see me in Parliament to ask me to sign their charter? He is a constituent, so he has every right to ask me to consider the merits of a campaign, but he is also paid for by Breakthrough. Likewise, do I register the group of teachers that I met on a mass lobby of Parliament about their pensions? They are all local but they are paid for by unions and want me to make representations on their behalf on national policy.  
It is not that there is no need for reform. Clearly if something like the Werritty case can happen, and cause so much concern, then there is obviously a loophole in the current industry code of practice. I doubt anyone would disagree that, on the whole, transparency is not a bad thing but it must be designed to prevent scandal, not stop competition or stifle informed debate.
We need to have a sensible debate on the future of lobbying, not a wholesale restructuring detrimental to democracy.

7th November 2011 by Tracey Crouch MP