Former Liberal Democrat minister Tom Brake responds to an article by Polly Toynbee on the 2014 act
In response to Polly Toynbee’s article (Cameron passed a lobbying act, but it was never meant to curb corruption, 15 April), as a Liberal Democrat minister in coalition, I was involved in drawing up the Transparency of Lobbying, Non-Party Campaigning and Trade Union Administration Act 2014. At no point did I, or any of my colleagues, ever discuss introducing measures designed to target the National Union of Students because we “lived in terror” of it.
What we did discuss was the risk of groups similar to the US National Rifle Association emerging as major players in UK politics. These organisations support a preferred candidate by viciously targeting their main opponent, but because they act “independently”, their spending does not count against their favoured candidate’s election spending limit.
