Conservative parliamentary candidate Rachel Maclean’s attack on Oxfam’s new inequality campaign demonstrates that charities are right to be threatened by new lobbying laws, Labour MP Richard Burden has warned.
Yesterday, Oxfam highlighted the scale of Britain’s growing inequality in a new report showing that the country’s five richest families now boast more wealth than the poorest 20 per cent of the population.
Oxfam urged Chancellor George Osborne to use tomorrow’s Budget to tackle tax avoidance and introduce a living wage.
Responding to Oxfam’s headline statistic on wealth disparity, Rachel Maclean, the Tory candidate for Birmingham Northfield, tweeted: “How can #oxfam claim to be a charity? They are a thinly disguised left-wing lobby group.”
She has since deleted the tweet but it garnered a lot of criticism from other tweeters during its time on her Twitter account.
Birmingham Northfield incumbent Labour MP Richard Burden responded to Maclean on Twitter with: “Big reaction against Tory @RachelMaclean3 attack on @oxfamgb y'day. She also blew apart Govt claims that charities safe from #gagging law.”
Speaking to civilsociety.co.uk, Burden said Maclean’s comments shows why charities are right to be worried about the Lobbying Act.
“I heard a similar attack on Save the Children by a Tory MP in the Commons recently. The comment by Rachel is utterly astonishing. If charities don’t have a voice to stand up for the vulnerable and underprivileged, they can’t do their work effectively.
“For an aspiring politician to attack Oxfam in this way says a lot. She attacks the charity which is reporting facts rather than the policies of the government she supports which is causing inequality in the UK.”
Burden continued that there was a “rather insidious attitude” going around in certain sections of the Tory Party.
“They seem to feel if a charity says something which makes them uncomfortable, it makes them illegitimate. This is a dangerous road to go down.”
Last August, former charities minister Gareth Thomas suggested that certain members of the Tory right were working to discredit charities as the sector has become increasingly vocal in campaigning against some government policies.
Burden said this demonstrated that charities are right to be worried about the new lobbying law.
“I believe the lobbying law was designed to put the frighteners onto people. It’s really about the intimidation of charities and it’s utterly reprehensible,” he said.
He said while government has continually said that the Lobbying Act is not a threat to charities’ campaigning, comments like those from Rachel undermine this.
“Ministers say the lobbying law has not threatened charities, but this is not borne out by the words of its own supporters which have legitimate charities in their sights. It will be a dreadful state of affairs if charities feel constrained to speak out. If people criticise the political order, it's not illegitimate - it’s the sign of a healthy society which needs a strong civil society.”
Responding to Maclean's comments, Oxfam's campaigns and policy director Ben Phillips said: "Inequality in Britain is not a left or right-wing issue. Our mission is to tackle poverty around the world including in the UK, where increasing inequality is a key cause. We want all parties to take these issues seriously on what is not just a moral issue but also an economic one."
