In 2010 David Cameron promised to be ‘the most open and transparent government ever’. How quickly times change. An open, transparent and confident government in a modern, progressive democracy would pride itself on its ability to listen and take on board the views of its citizens and the communities it represents.
Charities and civil society, working to build a better world by tackling social problems and helping our most vulnerable, have a wealth of knowledge and experience that any serious government would want to tap into. Yet charities – subject to new gagging clauses in grant agreements – are the latest victims of this illiberal government which is terrified of scrutiny and challenge, and which is riding roughshod over the legitimate views of civil society. The stifling of healthy debate began with the ‘Gagging Act’ and its restrictions on the ability of charities to campaign at election times on issues in which they are involved. Over 160 charities, including Age UK, The Salvation Army, Greenpeace and Save the Children have demanded the bill be repealed and have described the ‘chilling effect’ this has had on their campaign work are doing with some choosing to step back from advocacy work altogether. These latest ‘gagging clauses’, reported over the weekend, seek to prevent charities from ‘activity intended to influence or attempt to influence parliament, government or political parties’.
These clauses are an outrageous attempt to further erode free speech for voluntary organisations in receipt of state grants. Stuart Etherington, chair of the National Council of Voluntary Organisations, has described them as ‘tantamount to making charities take a vow of silence’. Charities in receipt of grants, many of which have a role in delivering public services, have important insight to share with government which would improve policymaking and the way services operate. It makes no sense to utilise the expertise of charities in delivering policies but then forbid them from providing feedback on how the system could be improved. They are often the ones working on the frontline, dealing with the failings of government policy and seeing where there are gaps in provision or wasted resources. The freedom to campaign on these problems can lead not only to improvements in services but also savings for the taxpayer, if issues are addressed early before the consequences of failure materialise with added expense.
For instance, NHS England commissioned National Voices, a coalition of health and social care charities in England, to produce ‘narratives’ on what good care looks like from the viewpoint of patients and carers. This work has played a central role in the formation of new integrated care models built around patient insight and has since been utilised for other interest groups such as mental health patients and children and young people. In a similar fashion, the Department for Education grant-funded Barnado’s to research the barriers faced by young fathers in seeking support. The findings have identified improvements in service provision that have directly informed Troubled Families and early intervention initiatives. This kind of working would be undermined by the new clauses preventing charities from campaigning for changes.
We do not have to look very far to understand the thought process of ministers devising this new measure.
The government’s legislative agenda speaks volumes: the ‘Gagging Act’, the attacks on political opposition funding in the trade union bill, cuts to Short money, attempts to hide contentious issues like fracking in national parks and the scrapping of university grants in obscure parliamentary process, the changing and scrapping of child poverty targets it knows they will not reach, the millions of people dropping off the electoral register.
The gagging clauses, and the failure to even put them before parliament, are the latest actions of an illiberal government, scared to debate its own record or be open to scrutiny.
We have a government afraid of citizens and communities coming together to exercise their power, afraid of the people and organisations working to build a better society, afraid of people using their voice to hold it to account. We must not let them govern from the shadows.
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Anna Turley MP is shadow minister for civil society. She tweets @AnnaTurley
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