In 2012 Green MP Holly Walker introduced the Lobbying Disclosure Bill. The bill would have regulated lobbyists, setting up a register and requiring transparency around lobbying activities. Parliament voted it down, with Labour MP Ruth Dyson playing a lead role in killing it. Now, thanks to Stuart Nash's corrupt dealings, the government will be taking another look at regulation.
Taking this at face value and rather than a delaying tactic to let public anger die down, its a good thing. Most of the rest of the world has managed to do this, so its not going to be credible to say that we can't, or that we don't have a problem. And while those in Parliament clearly feel they live in a "village" where "everybody knows everybody", those outside the beltway clearly feel differently, and see those chummy relationships as a problem, not a solution.
So, hopefully out of this we'll get the bill we could have got a decade ago if the select committee had actually done its job, rather than just saying "too hard" and protecting the status quo. But it does look like Labour is finally doing the right thing, a decade after the Greens advocated it - as usual.
