Still too many questions around non-party campaigning rules

As some of you will have read in my previous post about the Transparency of Lobbying Bill, over the last couple of weeks we have been seriously concerned about the proposed changes to the non-party campaigning rules.

Following a meeting with Cabinet Office officials, many of our questions about how the Bill will catch charities, voluntary organisations and community groups remain unanswered. There is too much ambiguity and uncertainty surrounding this part of the Bill, which does not bode well for any legislation.

We have therefore written a a letter to Chloe Smith MP (PDF), highlighting the potential impact of the changes and expressing our concerns.

As you can see from the letter, we have received support from a broad range of organisations. It’s important for us to show that this affects all sort of charities, so in the run-up to the second reading of the Bill on 3 September we are continuing to collect signatures. If you would like to add your organisation to the list of supporters please email me or write a comment here below.