The Scotsman
Letters page
1 September 2001
Against regulation
I am uncertain as to the evidence on which Dr David Miller, William Dinan and Professor Philip Schle-singer (Letters, 22 August) based their comments on the submission by the Scottish Council for Development and Industry to the standards committee on the regulation of lobbyists.
Far from the submission being "a rearguard action by vested interests", it is, in fact, a restatement of existing SCDI policy, with added detail. It was first formulated as part of our submission to the consultative steering group in June 1998, which I authored, and is available on the SCDI website.
It was discussed and ratified by our executive committee, which comprises a cross-section of the broad membership of SCDI.
The current submission was presented to our board prior to it being sent to the standards committee. SCDI regarded regulation of lobbyists as a bad idea in 1998 and continues to regard it as a bad idea.
IAIN D DUFF
Chief economist and policy manager, SCDI
Chester Street
Edinburgh