Charity Commission opens investigation into IEA

Back in March 2024, along with a Green MP (Sian Berry), a Lib Dem MP (Layla Moran), an SNP MP (Alyn Smith) and Dr Andrew Purkis OBE (once on the Charity Commission board) we complained to the Charity Commission about the conduct of the so-called Institute for Economic Affairs.

We pointed out that the IEA promotes extreme views such as there being “no sensible scientific objection” to increasing drilling in the North Sea, that healthcare in the UK should be insurance-based, and that regulation on disposable vapes should be removed. We observed that it has refused to admit who pays for its work but that some of its funding comes from the gas, oil and tobacco industries.

We observed that, despite clear guidance from the Commission that a charity’s purpose should not be political, the IEA was widely seen as the inspiration for Liz Truss and Kwasi Kwarteng’s disastrous mini budget. According to political commentator Tim Montgomerie it was a “massive moment for the IEA” who had been advocating the policies for years.

Our complaint was 19 pages long but the Charity Commission took just 12 days to dismiss it – it will not “stifle their important thinking” they said – and added that they were withdrawing the policy upon which our complaint had been founded.

Christopher Snowdon, the IEA’s Head of Lifestyle Economics, was jubilant and dismissed our complaint as “baseless”. On Twitter, our founder responded by inviting readers to “Index as: ‘Hostage to Fortune’”.

And so it has proven.

After we threatened formal legal action against the Charity Commission for refusing to engage with the IEA’s misconduct, it agreed to take another look. And it has today informed us [PDF] that it has opened a formal “regulatory compliance case” against the IEA, adding that:

The potential regulatory concerns relate to the trustees’ management of:

• • perceptions of potential political bias;
  • perceptions of a potential lack of transparency around funding; and,
  • perceptions that the charity may have pre-determined policy positions which would not be in keeping with its charitable purposes to advance education.

The IEA’s Director of Public Policy and Communications agreed publicly that Liz Truss had handed over power to the IEA and other “extreme neoliberal thinktanks”. We all remember the enormous damage she did to our pensions, the economy and our international standing. 

The IEA’s activities are the polar opposite of public benefit – and we have already written back to the Charity Commission encouraging an even more robust response.

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