20 May 2009

Yesterday saw Michael Martin become the first speaker of the Commons to be ousted in 300 years. Lords Taylor of Blackburn and Truscott are now the first peers to be suspended from the House of Lords in almost four centuries. The two Lords were found guilty of offering to help two undercover journalists posing as lobbyists to change laws for cash.

That’s three ‘bad apples’ gone. But, as with expenses, what’s needed now is reform of the system through transparency. Lobbying of politicians must be out in the open so that the public can scrutinise who is influencing decisions on public policy. If Gordon Brown wants to restore public trust, his reforms must include a statutory register of lobbyists, which would put in the public domain who is influencing whom, on what and how much they are prepared to pay for it.

The public must now be allowed to see in whose interest politicians are acting – their own, the outside interests that pay them – as demonstrated by Lords Taylor and Truscott – or the public's.