Lobbying in the United Kingdom

Lobbying in the United Kingdom plays a significant role in the formation of legislation and a wide variety of commercial organisations, lobby groups 'lobby' for particular policies and decisions by Parliament and other political organs at national, regional and local levels.

The phrase "lobbying" comes from the gathering of Members of Parliament and peers in the hallways (or lobbies) of Houses of Parliament before and after parliamentary debates. One definition of lobbying says it means:

in a professional capacity, attempting to influence, or advising those who wish to influence, the United Kingdom Government, Parliament, the devolved legislatures or administrations, regional or local government or other public bodies on any matter within their competence.

Formal procedures enable individual members of the public to lobby their Member of Parliament but most lobbying activity centres on corporate, charity and trade association lobbying, where organisations seek to amend government policy through advocacy. Companies and individuals who operate in this sector commonly use the terms 'Public relations', 'public affairs', 'political consultancy' or 'corporate affairs' to describe their activities (though this was also a reaction to the negative publicity surrounding the word 'lobbyists' following the 1994 Cash-for-questions affair). Professional public affairs agencies, representing multiple clients, undertake a significant proportion of lobbying activity in addition to individual organisations conducting lobbying on an in-house basis.

The professional lobbying industry has been rapidly growing since the mid-1990s and in 2007 was estimated to be worth £1.9 billion, employing 14,000 people. The report also suggested that some MPs are approached over 100 times a week by lobbyists.

Since 1994 there have been various complaints by MPs about unacceptable lobbying and several police investigations. Current levels of lobbying are causing concern as is the 'revolving door' which allow individuals to move rapidly between legislative and commercial roles in the same sectors creating potential conflict of interests. Ministers are making increasing use of Special Advisors (staff members employed by the minister personally, but paid for from the public purse) who are often selected from the related private sector industries and have sometimes been criticised for engaging in campaigning while still on the government payroll or for moving directly between lobbying roles and the advisor role.

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