Scott Arthur
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Nolan Principles
Scott Arthur Excerpts(1 day, 14 hours ago)
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Phil Brickell (Bolton West) (Lab)
It is a pleasure to speak in this debate on the Nolan principles; I congratulate the hon. Member for Mid Dunbartonshire (Susan Murray) on securing it.
As chair of the APPG on anti-corruption and responsible tax, let me say that it is on all of us to speak truth to power in a spirit of constructive criticism, regardless of which party is in power. I wish to focus my remarks on two topics where, collectively, it is my view that we are falling short of the Nolan principles: lobbying reform, which is long overdue, and MPs’ outside employment.
Let me say from the outset that lobbying is a vital part of public discourse in driving workable policy solutions. It ensures that differing viewpoints are heard by the Government before decisions are made, but we need to know who is being lobbied by whom so that politicians, the public and the media can accurately scrutinise the machinery of government. Regrettably, that is not the case in the United Kingdom in 2026.
In July, the Ethics and Integrity Commission published its review “Lobbying, Business Appointment Rules and Disclosure: Access to Government Decision Making”, which details 37 recommendations to modernise the regime. Doug Chalmers, the EIC’s chair, wrote in that report that the lobbying system
“fails to deliver the required level of transparency and, in doing so, falls short of meeting the Nolan Principles.”
Over the years, review after review and scandal after scandal have shown that the current system is broken. Only about 4% of all lobbying activity is required to be declared on the register of consultant lobbyists. That means that 96 out of 100 lobbying interactions simply fall outside the disclosure requirement, including in-house lobbyists, lobbyists with a turnover of below £90,000, non-VAT registered foreign businesses, the activities of special advisers, and informal comms such as WhatsApp.
Dr Scott Arthur (Edinburgh South West) (Lab)
People can mostly see who lobbies me because I often cannot resist putting their pictures on my Facebook page when I meet them. However, I do have to correct my hon. Friend. He is wrong to say that lobbying is not taken seriously in the UK, because in Scotland there is a register of lobbyists, so there are things we can learn even from inside the UK. What is in place in Scotland is not perfect, but does he agree that there is something we can learn from?
Phil Brickell
I am always willing to learn from comparative analysis of what works elsewhere, including in other jurisdictions across the United Kingdom.
The Government have it in their power to bring about a culture shift, and the time to do so is now. Not all of the EIC’s recommendations require primary legislation. There is recommendation 8, which is that the Government simply refuse to meet any organisation seeking to lobby them unless that organisation is on the lobbying register. Recommendation 10 on having one digital repository for transparency releases is a simple fix. How about recommendation 13, which is that transparency releases include informal communication channels, including the likes of WhatsApp?
If we are to address the deficiencies in our system, I urge the Government to find time to overhaul the register of consultant lobbyists so that we have a truly representative register that closes the loopholes I have mentioned, that empowers the regulator to levy significant fines for systemic offences of the registration requirement, that is properly resourced, and that documents interactions between the Government and organisations in sufficient detail that it serves as more than a mere box-ticking exercise.
Let me turn to MPs’ outside employment, colloquially known as second jobs. This Government pledged in the 2024 manifesto that they would
“task the Modernisation Committee to take forward urgent work on the restrictions that need to be put in place to prevent MPs from taking up roles that stop them serving their constituents and the country.”
In November 2024, my right hon. Friend the Member for Manchester Central (Lucy Powell) tasked the Committee on Standards to look at how
“to conduct further work into how changes to the rules on outside interests and employment might be implemented”.
The Standards Committee opened its inquiry on 8 January 2025 and took oral evidence in public through to July 2025, yet—more than a year later—no report has been published, and no recommendations have been forthcoming, and no action has been taken in Government due to this delay. Despite my writing to the Standards Committee requesting an update, I have yet to receive a substantive response.
Having advised—for the good part of more than a decade, in my old job before being elected to this place —on conflicts of interest, and on outside employment and related matters, I have been incredibly patient and so have other Members of this House. The Standards Committee has a broad remit and does good work, but after almost 24 months of waiting for a report, after my mentioning this matter previously in the House and after writing to the Standards Committee, there seems to have been no progress. I said in Westminster Hall more than four months ago that this House is moving at a glacial speed. My fear is that the glaciers will have melted by the time the report is published. The lack of progress is simply not good enough.
Phil Brickell
As the hon. Gentleman may have heard, I have approached the Chair of the Standards Committee and I have followed the proceedings that the Standards Committee has been undertaking over the past two years. I have not named any Member in this Chamber. I have approached the Chair and I have had correspondence, so I think the hon. Member for Harwich and North Essex (Sir Bernard Jenkin) will know that I have been following these matters very closely, suffice it to say. As I said, I worked on conflicts of interest in the private sector for more than a decade, so I have sufficient expertise to be able to talk at length about this matter.
Madam Deputy Speaker (Judith Cummins)
Order. The hon. Gentleman is being very generous with his time, but I will be starting Front-Bench speeches at 4.30 pm and we do have another Member who wants to speak.
Phil Brickell
I do not think it is complicated; I think it is pretty simple, and the Government have said repeatedly that the focus should be on delivering for constituents.
In summary, will the Minister do what she can to ensure that the report is expedited? Across the standards landscape, it pains me to see progress moving at far too slow a pace. My understanding is that the Prime Minister has yet to meet the EIC, so my final ask is: might the Minister venture to ensure that such a meeting takes place as soon as possible?