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Labour's lobbying problem

Prospective MPs with lobbying day jobs are introducing their clients to senior Labour figures – and boasting about it

Labour's lobbying problem
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When Polly Billington chaired a meeting between Labour’s shadow climate change chief Kerry McCarthy and reps from the energy, manufacturing and transport industries in January, she wore two hats: lobbyist and parliamentary candidate.

As a lobbyist, Billington was in attendance as a senior adviser for Hanover Communications, in whose office the meeting occurred, to connect their high-powered clients with McCarthy in the run-up to an election that Labour is expected to win.

Meanwhile, in her Labour role, she is the candidate for East Thanet, a newly formed constituency largely based on the bellwether Leave-backing seat of South Thanet on the Kent coast.