Lobbying: Crackdown To Spark Party Rows

By Jon Craig, Chief Political Correspondent

A crackdown on political lobbying will be unveiled later, triggering rows over the role of trade unions and the Tories' election guru, Lynton Crosby.

The Government will publish long-awaited legislation on lobbying first promised by David Cameron in 2010, shortly before he became Prime Minister.

The Bill will include a statutory register of lobbyists and, more controversially, annual membership audits for trade unions and curbs on unions funding Labour in elections.

But Labour will attempt to ambush publication of the Government's Bill with a fresh assault on Mr Crosby, claiming he was responsible for the dropping of legislation on plain packaging of cigarettes.

Labour claims a tobacco firm linked to Mr Crosby, Philip Morris International, which makes Marlboro cigarettes and employs Mr Crosby's lobbying firm Crosby Textor, told health officials in January that plain packaging could boost cigarette smuggling.

Tory election guru Lynton Crosby

Tories have hit back by challenging Labour to back the trade union reforms, claiming that if Ed Miliband is serious about loosening Labour's links with the unions he should support the legislation.

Mr Cameron has been criticised for the long delay between his promise to legislate and the introduction of a lobbying crackdown.

His pledge, early last month, came only after a sting caught Tory MP Patrick Mercer making promises to undercover reporters posing as lobbyists and three peers also falling victim to a separate sting.

In his pledge, made in February 2010, Mr Cameron said: "It is the next big scandal waiting to happen. It's an issue that crosses party lines and has tainted our politics for too long, an issue that exposes the far-too-cosy relationship between politics, government, business and money.

"I'm talking about lobbying - and we all know how it works. The lunches, the hospitality, the quiet word in your ear, the ex-ministers and ex-advisors for hire, helping big business find the right way to get its way."

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