Clauses in the lobbying bill which charities fear could prevent legitimate campaigning activity were passed in the House of Commons yesterday.
Clause 26 of the lobbying bill, which defines what spending on campaigning should be controlled in the run up to an election, was passed by 296 votes to 247. Charities say the clause introduces a wider definition of what could be considered election campaigning, so risks preventing legitimate charitable activity.
But, Deputy Leader of the House Tom Brake, assured MPs that government would address charities' concerns about the definition of election materials and election purposes at the report stage of the bill.
However, Labour MP Paul Flynn said the promise to change the clause at a later date was an advertisement for the "government’s incompetence".
"[The government] are suggesting we all waste our time dealing with a bill that might be very different at report stage," he said. "Why on earth doesn't the government try and amend the bill now?"
A slew of MPs strongly oppose the Transparency of Lobbying, Non-party Campaigning and Trade Union Administration Bill, including a minority of Tory backbenchers.
Former shadow home secretary and Tory MP David Davis called on part 2 of the bill to be scrapped, citing the broad range of opposition to it from charities as diverse as “Christian Aid and the British Humanist Association, Greenpeace and the Countryside Alliance, or the Royal British Legion and the Salvation Army".
"It is a bill that has attracted opposition precisely because it goes to the heart of all that those organisations do — not what they stand for, but what they do and how they execute their duty in society,” he argued.
And Labour MP Helen Goodman criticised Liberal Democrat MPs for not standing up to Tory colleagues and opposing the bill.
“One would think that, of all the things that the Liberal Democrats could defend, one would be liberal democracy," she said.
"This is about the nature of our democracy, and I really think that the Liberal Democrat members of the coalition should learn to stand up to the Tory members. The Bill is clearly a highly political piece of legislation, aimed at defending Tory donors and attacking the civil society groups that might support any other political activity and any other political parties.”
The bill will continue to be debated today.
TUC and NUS form partnership to fight lobbying bill
Meanwhile, the Trade Union Congress (TUC) and the National Union of Studens (NUS) unveiled a new campaigning partnership this week.
Referring to the government’s Lobbying and Transparency Bill, NUS President Toni Pearce said the new partnership would not just defend the right to campaign, but also extend and promote it.
“The Cabinet of millionaires know the power of our arguments. And that is why as we sit here today they are trying so hard to rush through a gagging law to shut us up.”
“We will not be silenced. In fact, we will do more than defend the right to campaign. Through our partnership, we will extend and promote it.”
The partnership, signed by TUC general secretary Frances O’Grady and NUS national president Toni Pearce will set out ten ways in which the trade union and student movements will work together in the year ahead.
