MPs have voted to bolster transparency and curb foreign influence in groups of politicians that were previously subject to minimal regulation.
Earlier this year, the Sky News Westminster Accounts project revealed that all-party parliamentary groups (APPGs) had taken more than £20m in funding since the 2019 election – with lobbyists ranking among some of the biggest benefactors.
APPGs tend to focus on a particular subject or country – like Cardiac Risk in the Young or Uzbekistan – and host events in parliament, conduct visits, create reports and perform other work related to the matter at hand.
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The consists of MPs and Lords of all parties – hence the name “all-party parliamentary”.
But concerns had been raised about who was operating the APPGs – who was acting as secretariat – and the bloated nature of some of the groups.
Lobbying agencies usually get involved to provide a secretariat to an APPG – with the agencies paid to provide the service by an outsider organisation.
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The Commons Committee on Standards produced a series of recommendations for new rules which have now been adopted by MPs.
They passed unopposed in a vote on Wednesday afternoon.
Lobbying industry insiders have defended the role of APPGs in the democratic process as a “force for good” – but one conceded to Sky News “there are bad ones”, while another said a “minority” is funded by organisations “trying to unfairly influence parliamentary decisions”.
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Sir Chris Bryant, the chair of the committee on standards, repeated a warning that the lack of regulations on APPGs was the next scandal coming down the line.
He said after the passage of the new guidelines: “Excellent. New rules on APPGs have been agreed by the House of Commons.
“No money from foreign governments. Tighter rules on financial transparency. Better governance arrangements. All good stuff.”
Lord Pickles, chair of the parliamentary watchdog on business appointments, told Sky News the same thing in January.
“This is the next big scandal, and I think we need to take action now before it further develops,” he said.
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“By and large, the all-party groups are fairly harmless. They perform in a niche in which particular members of parliament are interested.
“But for a number of them, the secretariat comes from professional organisations or lobbying groups and from organisations that have a political axe to grind. And I don’t think there is sufficient transparency in terms of why they’re doing.”
