Rejoice rejoice
Full marks to Eric Pickles. The Department for Communities and Local Government yesterday announced that it is to crack down on on wasteful spending of government lobbying government.
“Using taxpayers’ funds to lobby government wastes public money and undermines transparency.”
“The Department for Communities and Local Government is also cracking down on taxpayer funded lobby by other organisations. The Institute of Economic Affairs has undertaken extensive research on ‘sock puppets’ – those pressure groups and charities receiving public money that then use it to lobby government and Parliament for more money and regulation. “
“The department is setting Whitehall an example by taking the additional step of amending its grant agreements to include a new anti-lobbying, anti-sock puppet clause. Simple and effective, it will bring about an end to this practice and make sure that taxpayers’ money is being spent on those things that make a real difference to the lives of hard-working families.”
We particularly welcome this statement…
“It ensures that payments do not support activity that could influence or attempt to influence Parliament, government or political parties. It applies to any activity that could influence the awarding or renewal of contracts and grants or legislative or regulatory action.”
We call this a win.
You can read the full DCLG statement here.
You can download the IEA paper “The Sock Doctrine: What can be done about state-funded political activism” here .
Tags: DCLG, Eric Pickles, IEA, Institute of Economic Affairs, sock puppets