Author Archives: Alexandra Runswick

Alexandra Runswick

The Independent View: Transparency in Government

By Alexandra Runswick | Tue 14th January 2014 - 9:00 am

This week the Liberal Democrats face a test of their commitment to transparency in government when the House of Lords considers Part 1 of the Transparency of Lobbying, Non Party Campaigning and Trade Union Administration Bill. Bizarrely for a Bill with transparency in the title, it will provide the public with less information than we already have under the discredited system of self-regulation.

Last week the BMJ published details of the way the drinks industry had lobbied government to drop the commitment to minimum alcohol pricing including 130 meetings, few of which were in the public domain. This is not about …

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Posted in The Independent View | Tagged and | 9 Comments
Alexandra Runswick

The Independent View: It’s not alarmist to raise concerns about government plans for non-party campaigning

By Alexandra Runswick | Thu 29th August 2013 - 2:27 pm

The government ministers leading on the transparency of lobbying, non-party campaigning and trade union administration bill need to make their minds up. Last week, the newspapers were briefed that the government was “open to changes” to the bill following severe criticism from senior charities. This week, Tom Brake and Chloe Smith are lining up to attack 38 Degrees for “scaremongering” over the bill. So what is the truth?

Unlock Democracy has campaigned for several years now for the introduction of a statutory lobbying register and so has taken a keen interest in this bill. Our

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Posted in The Independent View | Tagged , and | 11 Comments
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Recent Comments

  • David Le Grice
    I don't understand what the author is asking for here. Drawing attention to the situation on its own won't solve anything. What do we actually want the UK gover...
  • Jamie Dobson
    Thank you, Rose Runswick, for alerting me in the comment above to the Compass organisation and Dr Savage's paper. For me, this provides the bit of the jigsaw t...
  • Ying Perrett
    Thank you for sharing your experience as I am aware of how difficult and painful it xan be. Transnational repression is real and closer to home than one can ima...
  • Graham Evans
    Alex Macfie: Charles Kennedy has become a very troubled man by the time he was deposed as party leader. Had he recognised earlier that his alcoholism had become...
  • Tim Rogers
    Much better from SirEd at PMQs. Topical question getting excellent coverage and sticking the boot in at the same time....