House of Lords back amendment to lobbying bill
- |
The controversial bill seeks to cap the amount charities and other groups can spend on campaigns during the 365 days before a General Election. It has been strongly criticised for placing significant restrictions on the ability of a number of organisations to speak out on key issues.
Staffing costs
This week, the House of Lords backed a helpful amendment by Lord Harries of Pentregarth to exclude "background" staffing costs incurred by groups for putting on events such as public rallies, press conferences and media events. This would simplify the bureaucracy involved in adhering to the new legislation.
Commenting on the amendment, which was opposed by the Government, Lord Harries said: "It is easy to assess the amount of money you are going to spend on hiring the hall for a public rally: you get an invoice for that.
"However, you do not get an invoice for a member of staff or the 10 per cent of their time spent over four weeks doing that. Therefore, we think that the best thing to do is eliminate the background staff costs from the regulated costs in those three areas."
