Eric Pickles has announced plans to increase transparency and stop the growing practice of local authorities hiring lobbyists to push for more regulation and 'pork barrel' funding.
Lobbyists have been hired by councils to campaign for and against unitary restructuring, against council tax capping, and for more central public funding - which are matters for Parliament.
The Secretary of State has also instructed all his department's quangos to cancel their contracts with lobbying firms. The Department of Communities & Local Government quangos which have spent taxpayers' money on lobbying firms include the Audit Commission, Ordnance Survey, Tenants Services Authority and a number of urban Development Corporations.
Eric Pickles, Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, said: "Lobbyists are being used to sidestep transparency laws and shadowy figures are peddling more regulation and special favours."
And he added, "If local politicians want to change the way government operates, their council should send a letter or pick up the phone. Councillors can campaign for change at a personal or party political level, rather than throwing away other people's council tax on the corrosive and wasteful practice of government lobbying government. These tough new rules will lower the cost of politics and increase transparency."