Compassion and Christmas go hand in hand. The work of wonderful charities, made possible by remarkable volunteers, can be relied upon to bring warmth to the festive period in ways our weather naturally fails to. But yesterday something rather chilling happened which undermines our season of goodwill and warrants some reflection.
The Charity Commission ruled that a tweet sent earlier this year by Oxfam linking benefit cuts to poverty could have been "misconstrued as party political campaigning". The tweet in June referred to a "perfect storm" caused by zero hour contracts and high prices. A complaint was lodged by Conservative MP Conor Burns who said he was "shocked" by how "overtly political" it was.
Politicians, especially Conservatives, are somewhat confused about what charities exist for. A poll of MPs carried out by nfpSynergy found that 78% of Conservative MPs said it is a negative trait for charities to "be political." This compares with 38% of Liberal Democrat MPs and 16% of Labour MPs.
It must be noted that charities are perfectly within their rights to campaign on political issues which support their charitable purposes. In the same survey 58% of the general public agreed that charities "should be able to campaign to change laws and government policies relevant to their work." Only 10% disagreed.
The paternalistic outlook of too many politicians effectively goes like this: charities should be seen and not heard, they should sweep up the symptoms of poverty whilst saying nothing of their causes. This proposition is sadly reflected in what become known aptly as the 'Gagging Bill.'
A prerequisite to the free and good society is a campaigning spirit - one which challenges injustice without fear or favour. We need to be clear that "being political" and "being party political" are not the same thing. Ironically it is the complaint itself which was made with party political motives.
Something has gone profoundly wrong when charities are told to walk by on the other side. They mustn't, we mustn't. It just isn't very Christmassy. Be political.
The Charity Commission ruled that a tweet sent earlier this year by Oxfam linking benefit cuts to poverty could have been "misconstrued as party political campaigning". The tweet in June referred to a "perfect storm" caused by zero hour contracts and high prices. A complaint was lodged by Conservative MP Conor Burns who said he was "shocked" by how "overtly political" it was.
Politicians, especially Conservatives, are somewhat confused about what charities exist for. A poll of MPs carried out by nfpSynergy found that 78% of Conservative MPs said it is a negative trait for charities to "be political." This compares with 38% of Liberal Democrat MPs and 16% of Labour MPs.
It must be noted that charities are perfectly within their rights to campaign on political issues which support their charitable purposes. In the same survey 58% of the general public agreed that charities "should be able to campaign to change laws and government policies relevant to their work." Only 10% disagreed.
The paternalistic outlook of too many politicians effectively goes like this: charities should be seen and not heard, they should sweep up the symptoms of poverty whilst saying nothing of their causes. This proposition is sadly reflected in what become known aptly as the 'Gagging Bill.'
A prerequisite to the free and good society is a campaigning spirit - one which challenges injustice without fear or favour. We need to be clear that "being political" and "being party political" are not the same thing. Ironically it is the complaint itself which was made with party political motives.
Something has gone profoundly wrong when charities are told to walk by on the other side. They mustn't, we mustn't. It just isn't very Christmassy. Be political.
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