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Case update 5 November 2025
Charity Commission: IEA must change to address political bias
After a formal complaint from Good Law Project, the charities regulator has told a radical rightwing think-tank to act on transparency and balance.
The Charity Commission has told the Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA) to deliver on transparency and political balance, after a four-month investigation prompted by a Good Law Project complaint.
In March 2024, we supported a cross-party group of politicians to demand action from the charities regulator over this radical rightwing think-tank.
The commission rejected the complaint within 12 days, but after we threatened legal action, it finally conceded in May 2025 and opened a regulatory compliance case.
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Now the commission has told us the IEA has provided evidence that “demonstrates a significant change in approach since it changed Chair and Director General / CEO in 2023; with a push for greater transparency and political neutrality”.
But the IEA’s CEO, Linda Edwards, has already made it clear the think-tank’s rightwing agenda is at its core. In July 2023, Edwards declared that “the IEA has profoundly influenced the United Kingdom’s economic trajectory”, adding that the “ethos of reduced state intervention and faith in free markets underpins the IEA’s continued mission.”
Edwards is also a board member of the Atlas Network, a network of rightwing think-tanks which advocate for ultra-free markets. According to the Guardian, members of the network are backed by “fossil fuel magnates, hedge fund and finance billionaires, and tobacco and oil companies”.
The Charity Commission added that the IEA “needs now to deliver on its plans and implement these changes, which would address… potential regulatory concerns”.
Given that the regulator accepts the IEA needs to do more to address these concerns, as well as what we know about the IEA’s CEO, we have grave doubts that the IEA will change its approach.
For Good Law Project’s executive director, Jo Maugham, the commission hasn’t gone far enough.
“Whilst we are pleased the Charity Commission recognised the need for formal guidance to the Liz Truss IEA,” Maugham said, “we think it is – not for the first time – remarkably complacent in believing the leopard of 55 Tufton Street will change its spots. We will not let the matter rest here, and are consulting with our lawyers.”