Report warns of improper access and lobbying risk to APPGs

The Committee on Standards has published a new report warning of a “real” risk of “improper access and influence by hostile foreign actors” through all-party parliamentary groups (APPGs). Although the report concludes that the risk is “difficult to measure,” it finds: “There is also evidence that this risk has already materialised.” In the paper, the cross-party committee chaired by Labour’s Chris Bryant also raised alarm over the influence of commercial lobbying on APPGs.

“We are concerned that if left unchecked, APPGs could represent the next great parliamentary scandal, with commercial entities effectively buying access to and influence of parliamentarians and decision-makers,” the report said. The committee recommended measures to reduce the number of APPGs, which has shot up in recent years to 744, to enhance transparency and limit funding and benefits received by them.