Invisible, Unfettered and Predictable—The Patterning of Corporate Political Activity in the UK

Abstract

Corporate interests’ access to the UK Cabinet Office shows that corporate political activity in the UK is common, involving lobbying by large numbers of businesses from a wide range of industrial sectors—albeit with considerable sectoral variation. Firm size appears to be the most deterministic variable— larger firms enjoy significantly more access to government than small and medium-sized firms. However, most lobbying is undertaken by domestic firms—multinational firms, despite their size, may concentrate their lobbying on supranational institutions. Associations representing smaller businesses are also underrepresented. The patterning and behaviour of corporate political activity in the UK—largely unregulated—mirrors that of jurisdictions where it is more regulated and monitored; inviting either a reappraisal of the impact of regulation on lobbying or a consideration of why UK lobbying, unfettered and relatively invisible, behaves in an identical manner.