MPs must exercise caution when lobbying in regard to quasi-judicial functions, says Neil Parpworth
- An MP’s lobbying activities may be the subject of a potentially successful legal challenge where they transgress the long-established standards of fairness.
- While MPs are entitled to lobby ministers at any time regarding purely constituency matters, they may need to be more circumspect where the minister is exercising a quasi-judicial function.
It may be sometime before the febrile atmosphere which currently prevails in Westminster dies down. When it does and a sense of normality returns, MPs will once again be able to focus more exclusively on the traditional aspects of their vocation, such as holding the executive to account and representing the interests of their constituents. In seeking to do the latter, they may often find it necessary to lobby ministers on a range of matters and in a variety of contexts. The means at hand for doing so include letters, e-mails, formal meetings in a minister’s office and less formal encounters, such as in the voting lobbies, the tea rooms or on the House of
