Transparency of Lobbying, Non-party Campaigning and Trade Union Administration Act 2014

The Transparency of Lobbying, Non-party Campaigning and Trade Union Administration Act 2014 is an Act of Parliament in the United Kingdom introduced in July 2013. The Bill was sponsored by the Cabinet Office and the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS). It was often referred to as "The Lobbying Bill" for short. It passed all Parliamentary stages, and received Royal Assent on 30 January 2014.

The Bill was founded on the principle of 'transparency' and 'cleaning up politics'.

The Bill was introduced partly in response to the Labour selection process in Falkirk and the alleged shortcomings of the influence of Unite the Union in that process. Problems with lobbying in Westminster also prompted the Bill. Following the recent expenses scandal Prime Minister David Cameron had suggested that lobbying was the 'next big scandal' to consume Parliament.

Some British trade unions suggested that the proposed Bill was a cynical move by the Coalition Government. A Government spokesperson described the proposed Bill as a "radical" Bill.

The Bill would reduce the expenditure by charities during an election period before they must be registered with the Electoral Commission to £5,000, a proposal which has been criticised by the sector.

In months directly prior to July 2013 incidents such as Patrick Mercer and his alleged lobbying for contracts related to Fiji had brought the issues surrounding lobbying into sharp focus.

This Part makes an offence of consultant lobbying without prior registration, with some exceptions for specific circumstances, and in addition creates a "Registrar of Consultant Lobbyists". Section 1 states that "A person must not carry on the business of consultant lobbying unless the person is entered in the register of consultant lobbyists."

This Part amends electoral law relating to funding of candidates and electoral campaigning. The Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act 2000 would be amended to reduce the amount of money permitted to be donated by "third parties", organisations which would "reasonably be regarded as intended to promote or procure the electoral success of a party or candidate". Section 26, Clause 5 amends PPERA to the effect that, when determining the intention of expenditure, "...it is immaterial that it can reasonably be regarded as intended to achieve any other purpose as well.”

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