All-party parliamentary groups are a valuable tool, but without regulation they risk becoming fronts for commercial interests
- Chris Bryant is the Labour MP for Rhondda
- Lobbying fears as MPs’ interest groups receive £13m from private firms
All-party parliamentary groups may be informal, but they provide a great service in our democracy. In good hands, they can foster better relations with other countries, keep a weather eye on an authoritarian regime, or bring into sharp focus a policy issue that may otherwise have been forgotten.
In that vein, I set up the APPG on acquired brain injury, which produced a report with a list of recommendations after a series of round tables with patients, families and practitioners. Just before Christmas, that bore fruit in the shape of a government commitment to launch a new national strategy on the issue. So an APPG can make a big difference, and the vast majority are run simply and cheaply on the back of the enthusiasm of a few MPs and peers without any extra spending.
Chris Bryant is the Labour MP for Rhondda
