Charities call for debate over Lobbying Act reform

Three major bodies representing thousands of charities have written to the Electoral Commission, calling for a debate over the reform of the Lobbying Act.

NCVO, ACEVO and Bond, which collectively represent a huge proportion of UK charities, have asked the Electoral Commission to explain which proposed changes it opposes to and on what grounds.

The proposed changes to the Lobbying Act were contained in Lord Hodgson’s 2016 report into reform of the non-party campaigning rules in the Transparency of Lobbying, Non-Party Campaigning and Trade Union Act.

Hodgson’s proposed reforms included a reduction in the regulated campaign period to four months before an election, changes to the rules on joint campaigning and a reduction in the scope of the Act to include only activity intended to influence how members of the public vote.

These changes were designed to reduce the burden of regulation for charities, while still preserving integrity in elections.

The government was initially considering the Hodgson recommendations, but in the lead-up to the General Election in June, many charities complained that a lack of clarity about the rules on campaigning meant they felt unable to raise issues.

Despite an increasing amount of calls to implement the Hodgson recommendations, the government announced in September it would not be implementing them. At the time, it cited a lack of space in the legislative programme to pass the necessary law and that the Electoral Commission was not content with some technical aspects to the proposed changes.

In a letter today sent to Claire Bassett, chief executive of the Commission, the three bodies requested a detailed explanation of why the Commission opposed making such changes to the Act.

NCVO chief executive Sir Stuart Etherington said the body is “extremely disappointed” by the Commission’s position.

“What’s needed is an open conversation about how the rules on non-party campaigning can be changed so they meet their objective of ensuring fair electionsm,” he said.

“There is consistent evidence that the law has a detrimental impact on the ability and willingness of the voluntary sector to speak out. We need prompt answers from the Electoral Commission so that we can get that discussion underway.”