A UK think tank aims to strip charitable status from organisations whose time is mostly dedicated to political campaigning.
Cambridge Circus Research (CCR) recently published Breaking the Blob: A Study and Antidote to British Ungovernability. It seeks a major shift in the current regulation of charities, which prohibits campaigning in support of political parties, but not for (or against) specific policies, i.e., the right to campaign in support of a charitable mission is established in charity law.
The report proposes making campaigning expenditure taxable and ending public money to charities that litigate or campaign against government policy. The ‘Blob’ of its title comprises parts of the UK charity, NGO, foundation, and public-interest litigation sector. Taken together, their actions frustrate elected policy and sovereignty, leading to a “state at war with itself.”
The authors, the (possibly pseudonymous) Charles Talbot and Zack Salisbury, set out a number of proposals for taming the sector, not least around transgender, migration, and Net Zero issues. In turn, this has prompted pearl-clutching allegations of culture warmongering and sourcing dark money aimed at the CCR.
