Charities offered cash for 'political campaigning'

The government has announced that it is to give about £750,000 to around 30 charities to help encourage "innovative, political campaigning".

Ministers claim that the move is aimed at "promoting social capital" by giving charities and vulnerable groups a stronger voice in Parliament.

Cabinet Office minister Liam Byrne told the BBC that the proposals will give the 30 "best organisations" a chance to pioneer new campaigning techniques.

But a leading think tank has criticised the move for "politicising" charities.

Jill Kirby, director of the Centre for Policy Studies, warned that the announcement could turn charities into lobby groups.

"Too many charities are already much too political," she told the BBC.

"Guidance issued by the Charity Commission stresses the campaigning role of charities and I think the danger in an initiative like this is that it further emphasises the desire to turn charities into lobby groups."

She argued that charities are already spending "far too much time" lobbying rather than helping with grassroot problems.

"Actually the best way in which a charity can help children in poverty is doing the kind of outreach that many small charities do – which is providing breakfast clubs for children of heroin-addicted parents," Kirby stated.

"It is actually being on the ground and having a place of refuge."

The think tank chief executive also criticised children's charity Barnardo's for polling nine and ten-year-olds.

Children were asked, 'Should the prime minister ever break a promise?' by the charity.

Kirby told BBC Radio 4's Today programme that this was "putting words in children's mouths".

"Tell me in what way that is helping vulnerable children?"

But Cabinet Office minister Liam Byrne defended the charity's move.

He argued: "It is giving a voice to young people in one of the most important political questions of the time."

And he explained that the government was taking steps to ensure that everybody has a right to be heard.

"Very often it is charities and campaigning groups who give a voice to people that don't get listened to enough," he said.

"It is quite easy for politicians, or think tanks or big companies to come onto the Today programme and put our arguments across.

"But for vulnerable groups, it is often much harder."

Byrne told the BBC: "What we want to do is find out how we can give those groups a megaphone too.

"This announcement is about how we give the 30 best organisations a little bit of money to pioneer some innovative campaigning techniques on behalf of people who often don't have their voices heard in the public arena."

Disability charities and those representing disaffected young people were identified as potential targets for the government funding, according to Byrne.

"We think that charities should be well funded with state help," he added.

Also today, Oxfam has launched a report which proposes how the government could use the current economic turmoil as an opportunity to create a more "equitable, sustainable society".

And the leading charity urged ministers to introduce an urgent bailout for those suffering in the recession.

In a report, 'Close to Home: UK Poverty and the Economic Downturn', Oxfam has outlined a six-point plan to help those on low incomes.

It includes tax cuts and raising benefit levels. A YouGov poll for Oxfam discovered that three-quarters of people thought that the Jobseekers' allowance was not enough to live on.

Antonia Bance, deputy director of UK poverty for Oxfam, called for "bold action" from government to prevent a major rise in poverty.

"Now, more than ever, it can't be business as usual in the UK," she said.

"The government must help people living below the poverty line as well as the growing number at risk of poverty in the Budget on April 22."