Your campaigning activity (such as signing petitions through Care2) could be CRIMINALISED in the UK if the Government's proposals for the new Lobbying bill go through in their current form.
This affront to democracy is supposed to prevent cash-for-lobbying by big business in the run-up to an election. However, it has become a thinly veiled declaration of war on non-profits and trade unions.
The restrictions outlined in the bill are so severe that they would outlaw campaigning against any political party. This would include campaigning against extremists such as the BNP, by any charity spending more than a tiny amount of money.
The TUC have called it "an outrageous attack on freedom of speech worthy of an authoritarian dictatorship".
Shadow Commons Leader Angela Eagle said: "The proposals on lobbying are so narrow that they are laughable, and the plans to gag charities with onerous regulations amount to an attack on civil society in the run up to an election."
Commons reformer, MP Graham Allen has described it as 'a dog's breakfast'. And even conservative MP Douglas Carswell dryly responded that 'He is wrong of course. More thought has gone into pet nutrition than into this bill.'
We must stop this before it wreaks havoc with the democratic process. We cannot allow this bill to penalise those of us who care, while leaving big business to continue to influence civil service workers behind closed doors.
Please sign this petition to Chloe Smith and ask her to remove all parts of the bill that would affect non-profit organisations, and keep it focussed on the activities of big busines.
Dear Rt Hon Chloe Smith,
On behalf of all charities across the UK who undertake campaigning activity, we the signers of this petition are sick with worry about what might happen to us if the Cabinet Office pushes through the Lobbying Bill in its current form.
At a time when trust in political parties and politicians is at an all-time low we need to increase involvement and participation in the democratic process, not limit it. This Bill in its current form is a gag on our right to engage in politics and criticise political parties. I'm sure you'll agree that while this can be uncomfortable for those in power, it is a necessary part of a functioning democracy.
Please meet with the NCVO and enact the wishes of non-profit groups over the next few weeks, to make sure that this Bill fulfills its real intentions and does not gag charities.
Thank you,
Rachel Collinson, Consultant to Amnesty, Greenpeace, Guide Dogs for the Blind, ABF the Soldier's Charity among many other non-profits.
