Tag Archives: rule

MPs launch ‘rule-breaking’ complaint against Institute of Economic Affairs | Good Law Project

Liz Truss and Kwasi Kwarteng: if their mini-budget was based on advice from the IEA, then that organisation has been involved in political campaigning, contrary to Charity Commission rules.

This is well-deserved, it seems. Charities must not be involved in political campaigning, or linked with political offshoot organisations. One wonders what the “educational research” entails:

The “extremist” charity the Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA) has been called out for repeated rule breaking, after a cross-party group of MPs and a charity OBE made a formal complaint to the Charity Commission.

Layla Moran MP from the Liberal Democrats called for the commission to act with “utmost urgency”.

“One charity promoting extremist views and acting outside the rules is a blight on the whole sector,” Moran said.

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Along with Moran, Alyn Smith MP from the Scottish National Party, Clive Lewis MP from the Labour Party and Siân Berry AM – parliamentary candidate from the Green Party have joined a former member of the commission’s own board, Dr. Andrew Purkis OBE, to argue that the IEA falls foul of regulations around political campaigning, educational research and inappropriate links with openly political offshoot organisations.

Despite clear guidance from the commission that a charity’s purpose should not be political, the IEA was widely seen as the inspiration for Liz Truss and Kwasi Kwarteng’s mini budget. According to political commentator Tim Montgomerie, the disastrous September 2022 mini budget was a “massive moment for the IEA” who had been advocating the policies for years.

Charity rules also state research must avoid presenting “biased and selective information in support of a preconceived point of view”. The IEA promotes extreme views such as there being “no sensible scientific objection” to increasing drilling in the North Sea, that healthcare in the UK should be insurance-based and that regulation on disposable vapes should be removed. It has so far refused to admit who pays for its work, but investigations have revealed some of its funding comes from the gas, oil and tobacco industries.

Commission guidance also states that charities must not “fund or support non-charitable purposes”, yet the IEA backs offshoots such as such as the IEA Forum and 1828 that aim to promote a “free market message”.

It’s a scandal that an organisation which pushes an extreme political agenda and seems so plainly in breach of charity regulations should continue to benefit from the tax advantages charitable status affords.

The Charity Commission, whose job it is to regulate charities and ensure that they comply with charity law, has received repeated complaints about the IEA over the last decade. But so far it has failed to act.

This will be a valuable test case.

Who next? The Campaign Against Antisemitism, perhaps?

Source: MPs launch complaint against Institute of Economic Affairs – Good Law Project


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Refugees: Grace Blakeley explains (and hammers) Tory ‘divide and rule’ tactic

A right-wing TV pundit had his arse handed to him when he tried to invoke the Tory tactic of ‘divide and rule’ to turn viewer opinion against people who have travelled to the UK in search of asylum.

Grace Blakeley, one of the UK’s brighter political commentators, pointed out exactly why his argument is utter rubbish, as highlighted by Maximilien Robespierre here:

Yes: if the issue is our treatment of Johnny and Janey Foreigner, the right-wingers tell us they are our enemy; but if the issue is accommodation of working-class people, they tell middle-class people that the workers are the baddies.

They always “other” the people who have the least. In fact, in most cases, fault lies with those who have the most. How did they get all that wealth and why are they hoarding it?

Keep the link to this clip handy; you can use it if you identify further attempts to use this false argument.

Keep track of corporations that break the law with this handy tool

Sewage dumping: it’s the most visible example of corporate rule violations in the UK right now – but not the only one.

This is another public service announcement:

The site’s introductory statement says:

Violation Tracker UK is the first wide-ranging database of enforcement actions brought against companies by government regulators in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

It contains more than 80,000 cases involving issues such as financial misconduct, workplace abuses, environmental offences and anti-competitive practices.

It combines cases resolved since 2010 from over 50 regulatory agencies. Violation Tracker is produced by the Corporate Research Project of Good Jobs First.

This Writer would guess that Prem Sikka has found Violation Tracker UK because of his interest in infringements by the privatised water companies.

But now that he has found and publicised it, we can use it to check up on anyone we like, including privatised utilities and companies owned by political donors.

Feel free to give it a go – and let us know about any really shocking breaches you find!


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Here’s why the Cabinet Office referred Boris Johnson to police for MORE Covid rule breaches

Partygate: here’s a shot of Boris Johnson at a Downing Street party that took place during Covid-19 lockdown. Did he mislead Parliament about them?

This could be the stupidest blunder in a lifetime of stupid blunders for Boris Johnson.

It seems that, because his defence against allegations that he misled Parliament is being bankrolled by the public (with around a quarter of a million pounds spent so far), Johnson’s lawyers have to provide the Cabinet Office with all information relevant to his behaviour during the times concerned.

Such information was contained in his diary – but after reading it, officials reported Johnson to the police in both London and Thames Valley.

Apparently it contains information on further breaches of the rule against mixing with other people during the Covid-19 lockdowns between June 2020 and May 2021.

Both police services refer to breaches of the Health Protection Regulations.

Here’s some meat to cover the bones of this story:

Some of Johnson’s friends (yes, apparently he still has some) in the Conservative Party have come to his defence – like Ben Bradley:

So he reckons we’ve all moved on.

Some of us haven’t moved on from his libelling of Jeremy Corbyn, back in 2018 (his apology for doing so remains the most-shared tweet ever published by a Conservative MP). Or from his suggestion that the online reporter who revealed the libel should be castrated. Or, indeed, from his desire to starve hungry children by denying the extension of free school meals in holidays during the Covid-19 lockdown periods.

Perhaps Mr Bradley should have kept his mouth shut.

Then again, perhaps Johnson should have kept his mouth shut too, when he said he had no knowledge of any Covid-19 rule breaches involving him.


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In the final days before the local elections, remember what the Tories have done to you

The ballot box: people across England and Northern Ireland will be voting in local government elections on Thursday (May 4). If you’re among them, have you taken time to think about the havoc Tories in Westminster have caused to your council and its services?

If you’re an ordinary member of the public who is not a Tory donor or friend, or a big businessperson, then you have absolutely no reason to vote ‘Conservative’ in the local elections in England and Northern Ireland on Thursday.

Big businesses have made a fortune from Conservative government…

… and so have company bosses. But you are losing more cash with every day of Tory rule that passes:

Bear in mind that top chief executive officers already received huge payments for what they did, so a four per cent rise is equal to a lot of money.

Meanwhile, your 2.5 per cent cut is based on an average income of £28,000, meaning a loss of £700. Could you do with £700 right now?

(I could.)

Of course, Tory plans mean you will lose more money in the near future. Do you have any idea how much they’re dragging out of us all in tax?

So in the couple of days that are left, how about spending a moment thinking about what Tory policies have given to you – and how much they have taken away.

Commons suspension update: NO ACTION over Ministerial Code breach?

Could anything else so succinctly demonstrate the power that Parliament has to hold the government to account – or rather the lack of it?

Commons Speaker Lyndsay Hoyle suspended a sitting of the House of Commons on Thursday (December 8) after discovering that Michael Gove had failed to deliver a full copy of a ministerial statement on the opening of a new coal mine, either to him or to Opposition parties.

This meant the Speaker was unable to select the MPs who would question the minister on the decision, because nobody had the information needed to inform such questions.

This is a breach of the Ministerial Code and by rights, Gove should have resigned.

But, as Maximilien Robespierre observes in the video below, he’s not going to resign.

He won’t be punished by prime minister Rishi Sunak.

And the Commons sitting was suspended for just five minutes.

Pathetic. Toothless. Pointless.

Here’s the clip:

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Speaker suspends Commons session after government breaks the rules AGAIN

They were warned.

Time and time again, Tory ministers have been told that their statements to the House of Commons have to be made in a very particular way, which is:

  • not after announcing what they’re doing to the media first, and
  • not without giving Opposition parties full access to the contents of their speech.

But Michael Gove – who has been in government on and off since 2010 and therefore should know better – broke those rules yet again, and this time Commons Speaker Lyndsay Hoyle had had enough.

He suspended the sitting of the Commons – firstly for five minutes and then for a longer period, in order to investigate Gove’s reasons for failing to supply more than a brief summary of his long speech before he delivered it and to provide Opposition parties with a chance to absorb what he had said and formulate questions on it.

Was Gove trying to avoid letting his fellow MPs have the chance to ask pertinent questions?

Or is he just incompetent?

As always, it’s hard to separate idiocy from intent with this lot.

The whole saga was captured on video, so you can watch it for yourself:

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What on Earth is ‘Security Risk Suella’ Braverman doing back in the Cabinet?

Suella Braverman: by her own admission, she is a risk to the security of the United Kingdom. So doesn’t it undermine Rishi Sunak’s claim to be putting “integrity and accountability” back into government for her to be re-appointed as Home Secretary?

One of the most vicious right-wingers in Rishi Sunak’s new Cabinet may find her tenure cut short before she’s had a chance to start – because of her own decisions.

Suella Braverman only quit the role of Home Secretary last week – most probably in order to attack Liz Truss in her resignation letter – but was re-appointed to the job by new prime minister Rishi Sunak yesterday.

The pretext for her resignation was a breach of the ministerial code in which she was said to have sent classified documents from her personal email.

Now this has come back to haunt her, because Labour has joined the Liberal Democrats in demanding an inquiry into whether she is an ongoing security risk and her appointment makes a mockery of Sunak’s claim to be putting “integrity and accountability” back into government.

Shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper criticised the appointment yesterday (October 25), accusing Sunak of putting “party before country” and tweeting, “Security is too important for this irresponsible Tory chaos.”

She expanded on this in a letter to Cabinet Secretary Simon Case, calling for an urgent probe into “this and other possible security breaches”.

She added that “the public has a right to know that there are proper secure information procedures in place to cover the person who has been given charge of our national security”.

In her resignation letter last week, Braverman acknowledged the mistake, calling it a “technical infringement” and adding that much of the content in the document she emailed had already been briefed to MPs.

The claim to be putting “party before country” is justified because Braverman is from the extreme right wing of the Conservative Party. Not a natural Sunak supporter, she only announced she was backing him late on Sunday, when it became clear that Boris Johnson would not be standing as a candidate in the Tory leadership contest.

Her appointment is therefore seen as an attempt by Sunak to win support from all wings of his party. It also trumpets an intention to take a hard line on immigration by reappointing the minister who previously said it was her “dream” to see Rwanda deportation flights take off, and expressed a desire to act tough on small refugee boats crossing the English Channel.

Liberal Democrat home affairs spokesperson Alistair Carmichael said: “Suella Braverman’s appointment makes a mockery of Rishi Sunak’s claims to be bringing integrity to Number 10.

“There must be a full independent inquiry by the Cabinet Office into her appointment, including any promises Sunak made to her behind closed doors.”

He said Braverman should be sacked if it is confirmed that she “repeatedly broke the ministerial code and threatened national security”.

Her reappointment has also sparked outrage among the commentatorati, including the following from Russell Kane, which I recommend you don’t watch if you are offended by extremely strong language:

Alternatively, try this from Professor Tim Wilson who attacks Braverman’s politics, comparing Suella Braverman’s dream of “misery, contempt and insanity” with Martin Luther King’s dream of “optimism”:

Foreign Secretary James Cleverly, speaking on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, insisted Braverman had shown integrity by apologising for breaking the rules. He said Sunak had accepted her apology and chose to re-appoint her because she had “very, very recent” experience of the Home Office.

“Clearly the PM wants to make sure that the department can deliver from day one.”

But he didn’t sound very convincing.

It is hard to defend a minister whose brief is to focus on crime when she only admitted committing one herself – last week. Let’s look forward to watching Sunak make a stab at it in Prime Minister’s Questions.

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Will Liz Truss’s new policies appeal to target voters? Probably not!

The bank holiday weekend may be over, but this article is being produced in the period before everybody goes back to work – so I’m still putting up material that has interested me – and I hope it interests you. Make of it what you will:

Have YOU donated to my crowdfunding appeal, raising funds to fight false libel claims by TV celebrities who should know better? These court cases cost a lot of money so every penny will help ensure that wealth doesn’t beat justice.

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Tory divide-and-rule: leader candidates attack SNP’s record

Sunak and Truss: they’ll be attacking the Scottish government at a hustings event in Perth.

It’s all a bit predictable, isn’t it? Still, if it works, there’s no reason they wouldn’t carry on with it.

I refer, of course, to the Tory tactic of “divide and rule” – currently on full display in that party’s leadership election campaign.

Both Rishi Sunak and Liz Truss have ventured into Scotland, where they said the ruling SNP should be challenged on its record, and affirmed their opposition to another independence referendum.

The SNP has retaliated by pointing out (correctly) that neither candidate is offering a solution to the current cost-of-living crisis – and suggesting that both will boost support for Scottish independence.

Sunak has announced a plan to roll back devolution to ensure “every single” government department operated UK-wide, despite key policy areas such as education and health having been in the control of Holyrood since 1999.

That’s unconstitutional, of course.

He also called for regular reports from Scotland on the delivery of key services, so these can be compared across the UK. That seems to be another attempt to establish lines of criticism that could be used to accuse the Scottish administration of failure (probably on false bases).

Truss just went straight for the jugular, saying she would make changes to the Scotland Act to give MSPs the same full parliamentary privilege as MPs at Westminster, so they would have legal immunity from prosecution over statements made in Holyrood, instead of the narrower set of protections against defamation claims and some court actions they have now.

If that seems like a bonus for MSPs, think again: Truss wants it in order to “allow for more robust questioning for ministers” and “increase the powers of the Scottish parliament to hold the Scottish government to account”. It’s all about attacking the SNP administration.

She amplified on this by saying (according to the BBC),

“I’ll make sure that my government does everything to ensure elected representatives hold the devolved administration to account for its failure to deliver the quality public services, particularly health and education, that Scottish people deserve.”

The SNP’s Westminster leader, Ian Blackford, reminded voters that throughout the cost of living crisis, while other nations’ governments have acted to support the most vulnerable people, the UK’s Tory government has “sat on its hands”. He said:

“Whoever wins this leadership contest, Scotland loses.”

That’s true – but it’s not the argument for independence that he insists it is, because it applies across the United Kingdom. We all lose as long as any Tories remain in office at all. That’s something we should all remember as this leader election draws to its close.

Have YOU donated to my crowdfunding appeal, raising funds to fight false libel claims by TV celebrities who should know better? These court cases cost a lot of money so every penny will help ensure that wealth doesn’t beat justice.

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