09/05/09 - Scandal Of The Labour Government Spending Millions Lobbying Themselves

An investigation by Conservatives has uncovered a ‘financial scandal’ of widespread and growing expenditure by central government bodies on hiring lobbying firms to lobby the government. At least £10 million of expenditure has been undertaken by government bodies retaining public affairs firms. In turn, such lobbying is justifying hundreds of millions of extra state spending and more state regulation.

·                      Government lobbying government: Through detailed research and Parliamentary Questions, a total of sixty central government bodies have been identified as having retained public affairs firms. Gordon Brown’s former political adviser, Karl Milner, has predicted that on present trends, by 2010, 500 public bodies a year will be retaining public affairs firms. This is ‘public choice’ theory in action – state bureaucracies spending money to justify their own existence.

·                      New Labour speak of 'stakeholder relationship advice': Such government lobbying is masked with the euphemisms and new Labour management speak of ‘stakeholder relationship advice’, ‘political consultancy’, ‘stakeholder management’, ‘strengthening of relationships with key stakeholders’, ‘strategic communications advice’, ‘Parliamentary monitoring’, ‘public affairs support’, ‘policy tracking’, ‘strategic counsel’, and ‘engaging public policy makers and opinion formers’.

·                      Scandalous waste: Examples of waste including the National Lottery Commission, Big Lottery Fund and the Heritage Lottery Fund each hiring a series of separate firms for ‘stakeholder engagement’. The Department for International Department hired to a lobbyist to a produce a report on “how DfID has succeeded”. Bodies overseen by the Treasury like the Royal Mint, Crown Estate, Financial Services Authority and Financial Services Compensation Scheme have burnt taxpayers’ money on lobbyists. Even the NHS Information Centre has retained a company to provide ‘public affairs advice’

·                      Ministers fail to stop bureaucracy out of control: Labour Ministers have admitted that no guidance has been given on the use of lobbyists by government to lobby the government. The public affairs firms themselves are not at fault or breaking any rules, but the public bodies are at fault for hiring these companies and wasting taxpayers’ money at a time when public finances are so tight.

·                      Centralised culture of spin: The Hansard Society has blamed the growth in the use of lobbyists by government on the culture of spin created by the Labour Government, noting "Labour has become associated with increased centralised control of media messages and spin”.

·                      Conservatives pledge new financial controls: Conservatives are pledging to stop this waste of money, and follow the example of the United States. In the US, federal rules stop public money being spent on lobbying for more federal funds or legislative favours. Such a move is part of a wider Conservative policy of cutting expenditure on wasteful Whitehall spin and external consultants.

Robert Buckland South Swindon Conservative Parliamentary Candidate, said:

"The hiring of lobbyists by government bodies to grab more government cash is a financial scandal. No wonder the bureaucratic state has ballooned under Labour, given lobbyists are routinely in the pay of the government to justify ever more state spending and ever more state regulation.

"I fear this is systematic of a corrosive culture of spin in Whitehall. Labour’s constant creation of new quangos has blurred accountability and created a bureaucracy out of control. Conservatives will put new rules in place to stop this outrageous waste of money."

Cllr Justin Tomlinson North Swindon Conservative Parliamentary Candidate, added:

"Whilst we all have to tighten our belts during the economic crisis, once again we see Labour can't help but spend, spend, spend our tax payers money.  This is a classic example of everything that is wrong with this hopeless Government as they lurch from disaster to disaster."