Access to parliament and the rise of the professional lobbyist

Members of Parliament have entered the consultancy lists in a big way. Increasingly, outside pr firms are also getting their feet in the door. Public corporations have joined the ranks of those who feel the need to use those sorts of services. The Parliamentary Select Committee on Members’ Interests, in its first major piece of work for ten years, has failed to tackle either the implications for Parliamentary decision‐making or the wider issue of unequal access to MPs and government information.