Bill will put pressure on the corporations that don't care

A Private Member's Bill on corporate responsibility will be tabled on Wednesday, putting pressure on the UK's biggest companies to improve their environmental and social impact policies.

A Private Member's Bill on corporate responsibility will be tabled on Wednesday, putting pressure on the UK's biggest companies to improve their environmental and social impact policies.

The Bill, which is being tabled by Labour MP Linda Perham, is backed by a broad coalition of human rights, environmental and development organisations including Amnesty, Friends of the Earth, New Economics Foundation and Save the Children.

If adopted, the Bill would make companies publish environmental and social impact reports each year. It has already attracted cross-party support from more than 150 MPs including heavyweight parliamentarians such as John Hume and Menzies Campbell.

However, the CBI is opposed to the Bill. "We believe that corporate social responsibility should remain market- driven," said a spokesman. "We do not support a mandatory approach and believe that a one-size-fits-all policy is not possible."

Just over a fifth of the UK's top companies produce substantive reports on their environmental and social performance. France, Denmark and the Netherlands already have legislation that requires companies to issue reports.

The Bill is part of the growing movement against what campaigners believe to be the impact of increasingly powerful corporate interests.

On 19 June the largest ever lobby of Parliament on the issue of global trade is being planned by the Trade Justice Movement, supported by rock band Radiohead. Ten thousand people are expected to converge on Westminster.