Shorter Taxpayer's Alliance

Shorter Taxpayer's Alliance report on political lobbying:

1. Taxpayer funding of lobbying and political campaigning should be entirely abolished, building on the example set by the Byrd Amendment in the United States.

2. Full transparency of all public spending should be implemented, to reassure taxpayers that none of their money is being diverted by stealth.

3. Lobbying and campaigning groups which claim to represent taxpayers should have to reveal who their funders are.

4. Campaigning by Friends of the Earth and the Local Government Association distorts the public policy process in favour of the interests and perspectives of a narrow political elite. Corporate lobbying and PR represents an actual economic interest, employers and employees who will lose out if a decision doesn’t go their way. It may improve decision making by ensuring that political decisions better reflect a balance of economic costs.