Oil giant’s lobbying firm provided ‘admin support’ to MPs investigating energy crisis

theguardian.com:

A lobbying firm whose clients include the oil giant BP provided “administrative support” to a committee of Conservative MPs conducting an inquiry into the energy crisis.

Crowne Associates took meeting minutes and helped compile reports for the 1922 backbench committee on business, energy and industrial strategy. The influential sub-committee, chaired by the former business secretary Andrea Leadsom, went on to recommend policies sympathetic to the oil and gas industry, including calling for a loosening of planning laws to enable fracking.

It also said many MPs supported “sensible” new fossil fuel projects including “maximising production from the North Sea basin”, and suggested the government promote “self-help” measures to help consumers to cut their own bills, such as turning down radiators.

The findings have prompted calls for greater oversight of backbench committees and will raise fresh concerns about the potential for fossil fuel lobbying in Westminster amid climate breakdown and an energy price crisis.

Crowne Associates’ link to BP, which it claims is unrelated to its work with the sub-committee, was not mentioned in the reports and came to light last week following analysis of transparency records by the Observer, four months after the firm’s work for the sub-committee began.

Leadsom declared on 27 July that since 21 March she had received about £2,093 worth of “secretariat support” from Crowne Associates, which describes itself as a “strategic advice agency”. The donation in kind was to support her role leading two inquiries relating to the energy sector – one into energy price rises and a second into geothermal heating, according to the entry.

The sub-committee subsequently published two reports – in March and July –