MPs voted on two motions to reject Lords amendments, tabled by former Bishop of Oxford Lord Harries, on the scope of staff costs and constituency regulation. The first was won by 310 to 278 (a majority of just 32 for the government, from a working majority of 76). The second was 314 to 274 (a majority of 40).

Among other restrictions on non-party bodies at election time, the Lobbying Bill will slash charities' and non-party campaigns' spending limits by 60 per cent, restrict their spending in individual constituencies to only £9,750, force those involved in coalition campaigning to count all the coalition's spending as their own, and imperil the privacy of trade union membership records. But it was pointed out in the debate in the House of Commons today that many wealthy corporate 'influencers' will be untouched by the legislation.

Lobbying by the alcohol industry against minimum pricing will not be included in the official register. A significant number of MPs have drinks industry and allied commercial interests.

Friends of the Earth senior political campaigner Liz Hutchins added: “The Government comprehensively lost the arguments today but won the vote. This poorly conceived Bill will massively restrict charities and campaigning groups from speaking out on behalf of their members ahead of elections. “Peers must once again stand up for democracy when the bill returns to the House of Lords,” she said.

Campaign group 38 Degrees pointed out that if just 17 more Conservative or Liberal Democrat MPs had voted the other way, the outcome in the Commons would have been different. Full Story here