Weapons Makers, Chinese Firms 'Donate' £13M To Get Access To UK MPs

Arms manufacturers and healthcare businesses are among the private firms that have bought access to the British Parliament through a £13-million “back door” lobbying network, Tatev Hovhannisyan, Peter Geoghegan and Ben Quinn reported for openDemocracy.

Photo Insert: One APPG successfully lobbied government to introduce a “greener” petrol called E10, after taking donations from one of the sector’s leading firms.

British American Tobacco and Big Tech are also among those that have funded so-called All-Party Parliamentary Groups (APPGs) – which are largely unregulated and growing in numbers.

Analysis found that more than half of £25-million worth of donations given to APPGs since 2018 has come from the private sector, with the groups repeatedly lobbying for causes that benefit their private donors.

The finding has sparked calls by Chris Bryant, the chair of the Commons’ Standards Committee, for parliamentary authorities to have the power to shut down the groups if there are conflicts of interest.

The investigation by openDemocracy and The Guardian found: Arms manufacturers have given £256,000 in cash, services, or a combination to APPGs in the past four years, while Amazon, Facebook, Huawei, Google, and British American Tobacco have all donated significant amounts.

One APPG successfully lobbied government to introduce a “greener” petrol called E10, after taking donations from one of the sector’s leading firms. The firm helped to write the group's influential report on the subject, which contained disputed claims about the benefits of E10.

The Armed Forces APPG, which is part-funded by weapons makers, visited Bosnia and met a representative from Lockheed Martin. An MP on the trip subsequently told Parliament that “fears about security” in the country were “justified” – without declaring the trip’s funding.

Private health and social care companies have pumped more than £1 million in donations to a number of APPGs where MPs and peers have discussed health-related issues.

A significant number of APPGs have routinely breached transparency rules by failing to declare their accounts or provide them on request. This means private donors could be hidden with no accountability.

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