Lobbying Bill: call for changes

Rowan Williams has called on the government to make changes to the Lobbying Bill

Christian Aid chairman Rowan Williams has called on the government to make changes to the Lobbying Bill. Civil society groups, including the Religious Society of Friends, have argued that the proposed Bill threatens to curtail the freedom of charities across the country.

Despite making a number of amendments to the Bill, the government last week rejected two vital amendments – on the regulation of staff costs and constituency spending limits. These were passed in the House of Lords by healthy majorities.

Many voluntary groups and charities feel the proposed Lobbying Bill threatens the health of civil society. Rowan Williams said that a ‘Bill designed to increase transparency in our democracy, and to curtail unaccountable and potentially corrupt influence, could have the unintended effect of burdening and weakening these civil society agencies in a way that is seriously bad news for democracy’.

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