Pickles accuses local authorities of wasting public money when they could talk to ministers directly

The Government is to publish long-awaited plans to reform Britain's lobbying industry next week, The Independent has learnt.

Civil servants copied and pasted from letter sent by powerful body representing big firms

The Augean stables will not clean themselves. That David Cameron's former director of policy has taken a job at the lobbying company Portland, apparently without the proper clearances, is just the latest evidence that the rules supposedly governing the revolving door between the political establishment and the lucrative world of lobbying are simply not working.

One of David Cameron's senior Downing Street advisers has broken rules meant to stop former government officials from trading on their inside knowledge of Whitehall and access to ministers, The Independent has learnt.

References to 'wife beater' on Wikipedia's Stella Artois page were restored by other users

As newspaper reporting enters an age where it is as much about multimedia as it is about print, the videos Independent.co.uk readers have been most interested in this year provide a diverse snapshot of what you want from televised news.

Rebranding effort abroad – but elections leave country unmoved

Dozens of MPs who left the Commons at the last election have taken jobs in organisations involved in lobbying and have been given passes that give them privileged access to Parliament, an investigation for The Independent has established. Research by the Bureau of Investigative Journalism found that one in five of the 79 MPs who have applied for Former Members' Passes after the 2010 election now work for companies or organisations with a possible interest in influencing present MPs.

When the former MPs' pass scheme was set up seven years ago those behind it had honourable intentions. They wanted to make the transition a litle easier from being an MP one day to being unceremoniously ejected from the House of Commons the next.

In some respects, the rules are clear. An MP who earns money outside Parliament which relates in any way to his status as an elected member of the legislature has to make a declaration. In writing. In a register that is regularly updated. There are penalties for those who do not comply. The boastful comments of Tim Collins, managing director of Bell Pottinger, as recently revealed in The Independent, might suggest that professional lobbyists, in contrast, live in a world where no rules apply. But that is not so.

Body representing disgraced Bell Pottinger, among others, pulls out of plans for new register

Christina Patterson meets backbench MP Stephen Lloyd who thinks we should give them another chance.