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LONDON – Rishi Sunak’s government is reviewing its much-anticipated plans for a US-style foreign lobbying register after businesses worried it would stifle foreign investment.
The Foreign Influence Registration Scheme – enshrined in the National Security Bill currently making its way through the UK Parliament – is meant to protect British politics from malign foreign influence.
It has long been called for by lawmakers concerned about covert lobbying by hostile states such as Russia and China, and the Home Office has looked to similar schemes in the United States and Australia for inspiration.
But foreign firms doing business in the UK have warned that the current draft of the plan is far more comprehensive than international counterparts, and say it could affect investment as well as day-to-day trading by firms based in UK-friendly countries. Reduces everyday busyness.
A senior business figure – representing a large foreign firm in a country allied with Britain – described the plan as it stood as “the most bone-headed, dunder-headed, ill-conceived legislation ever”. seen.
A UK government official confirmed to POLITICO that the register is now being reconsidered.
“It is being reviewed,” the official said. “There has been a lot of protest, and it has been noted.”
planned scheme, which the government there will be light of hope On hostile powers attempting to influence UK policy-makers, most foreign organisations, including businesses and charities, will be required to publicly register every communication they have with a UK policy-maker or Take the risk of committing a criminal offense that carries potential jail time.
All communications with ministers, officials, MPs and election candidates that are deemed to be “for the purpose of influencing UK public life” must be registered ahead of time and within 10 days of planning.
But while ministers have promised that registration requirements will be “clear, simple and proportionate”, they have yet to reveal how the scheme will operate. Firms say they were blindsided by the plan’s unveiling just before the Christmas break.
“We’re not going to stop lobbying or stop doing business in Britain, but it’s going to be potentially highly bureaucratic,” the foreign trade figure said.
“It’s going to lead to over-compliance,” he said, “and in some extreme cases, talking to some of my counterparts in other businesses and professional organizations, their view on this is getting so complicated that they just can’t is going to be troubled by engaging with the government.”
‘Fireworks’
Business groups have raised a number of specific concerns about the current plan – which was originally promised by Boris Johnson’s government – and are pressing the UK Home Office to reconsider.
Officials at the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy are also reporting concerns to the Home Office.
Critics of the proposed register argue that it fails to distinguish between hostile powers and countries with which the UK has strong links, with some firms calling on the Home Office to come up with a “whitelist” of countries whose businesses Will not have to register.
“It’s just crackers in the way it doesn’t differentiate between a Norwegian company and a North Korean company,” said the business person quoted above.
The government has also been warned that the way the new plan interacts with Britain’s existing lobbying laws – long criticized by transparency campaigners as insufficient – would mean a vast majority of domestic lobbyists Herd will continue to be exempt from any requirement to register, even though those working for foreign companies are forced to do so.
Other suggestions made to ministers to improve the scheme included a US-style exemption for business activityor plan gap the so-called “primary level” – Require comprehensive registration – in favor of more targeted moves asking the government to name specific foreign powers and companies it wants to hone in on.
A Home Office spokesman said: “The Foreign Influence Registration Scheme is designed to strengthen the integrity of British democracy and protect the UK from state threats.”
He said: “Openness and transparency are vital in a democracy and the government is clear that this scheme will expose the nature and scale of foreign influence in the UK”.