Our ethos

Lobbying and lobbyists have come in for considerable criticism over the last few years, and in some cases that criticism has been entirely justified.

At CLC we believe that in an open, democratic society there is an entirely legitimate and proper role for lobbying as a channel of communication between government and the governed. Honestly and transparently undertaken, presenting a reasoned case for a client enables governments and institutions to take account of matters that it might have overlooked in formulating policy on a particular issue. Lobbying is about communication, not about attempting to buy influence.

“Lobbyists are like bus drivers: they transport different interests – between civil society, businesses and policymakers. As professionals, they must self-regulate and comply with the highest professional and ethical standards. As they are carrying different interests on behalf of others, transparency is what make them reliable and gives assurance that interests will arrive at destination without taking any detour, getting lost or worse. Bus drivers carry a responsibility that goes beyond their own interests or those of the people they are transporting.”

As members of the European Public Affairs Consultancies’ Association (EPACA), we have signed and adhere to its Code of Conduct. Through EPACA we are actively involved in the development of lobbying standards and we fully support transparency initiatives. The EPACA Code commits us to act in an honest and responsible way in our dealings with international and EU institutions – and we follow the same standards for all of our work in the UK.

At CLC we always:

• Identify ourselves by name and by company when making contact with government and institutions
• Declare the interest that we are representing
• Tell the truth at all times
• Honour confidentiality

We are scrupulous in checking that potential clients have no existing conflicts of interests with current clients.

In order to be accepted as a legitimate element in the democratic process, lobbying needs to be conducted to the highest ethical standards. Integrity is at the heart of everything we do: anything else would simply not be in the interests of our clients.