charity gagging bill

A senior United Nations official has expressed concerns about the highly controversial Lobbying Act, urging the UK government to reform it.

In a report presented at the UN Human Rights Council just two days before polling day last week, UN experts criticised the act for its ‘chilling effect’ on civil society and its unequal treatment of charities compared to businesses. [1]

In the run-up to the 2015 election the environmental group refused to register as a ‘third-party campaigning organisation’ under the new law. The move was an act of civil disobedience against a law that curbs free speech and neuters the power of campaigners to hold politicians to account while doing nothing to regulate actual lobbyists.