House of Commons
10 September 2026
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Actual start House of Commons
Follow its sittings34:20 - 35:02
Speaker 1
Before we start proceedings today, the House will know that tomorrow marks the 25th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks on the United States. The Speaker's Chaplain will deliver a special prayer before the start of business in the Chamber tomorrow.
Members will also have an opportunity to mark this anniversary during tomorrow's adjournment debate. I know that colleagues across the House will join with me in remembering the victims of the horrific 9/11, the families of all those who died and the men and women involved in rescuing people. Right, we now come to questions to the Minister for the Cabinet Office, Joe Powell.
35:02 - 35:10
Speaker 2
Number one please, Mr. Speaker.
35:10 - 35:28
Speaker 4
I'm grateful to the Commission for its thorough work, which we are considering carefully. We know that more can be done on transparency around lobbying and will present our response to Parliament in due course. There's a great deal of interest in this, understandably so, and we are determined to get this right.
35:28 - 36:05
Speaker 3
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I strongly welcome the Government's efforts to rewire the state and create more accountability for decisions made by Government. And as part of that effort, cleaning up our politics is so important, as we've seen from the summer of scandals on the funding of the Reform Party. The Ethics and Integrity Commission have laid out how lobbying can be reformed to make it more open, rational, and accountable. So can the Minister outline what immediate steps might be taken, and can he assure us he will keep an open mind to their central recommendation, which is legislation for a unified, digital, open lobbying register?
36:05 - 36:26
Speaker 4
We certainly recognise the current system of transparency around lobbying does not have widespread support. It isn't good enough. That's why the Ethics and Integrity Commission was asked to report on this matter.
We are considering the case for legislative reform very carefully and will report back on the EIC as soon as we can.
36:26 - 37:01
Speaker 5
Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and can I thank the Minister very much for that answer. Minister, when it comes to lobbying, Northern Ireland has a peculiar and particular circumstance where one party can be involved in politics in Northern Ireland and at the same time be involved in politics in the Republic of Ireland. When it comes to looking at the accountability of the honorable gentleman and the Minister's putting forward, can he assure us in this House and us in Northern Ireland that the rules that apply here will apply equally in Northern Ireland and apply to the political parties who traverse the border both north and south?
37:01 - 37:18
Speaker 4
It wouldn't be a first outing at the dispatch box without a contribution from the honorable member for Strangford, so I welcome that. We'll of course consider all of that in the response to the EIC. Thank you.
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