Monday 24 March 2008

Oh, But They Are Rattled

Oh, but they are rattled.

The charities, heavily politicised as most charities now are, even to the arguably illegal point of writing to every MP to demand that a specific Bill be passed.

Robert Winston, although at least he is a parliamentarian.

Oh, but they are rattled.

As they would only be if they thought that they were on course to lose.

So lose they must.

6 comments:

  1. David - all hail your coreageous efforts to stop this bill. I am interested when you say charities are conducting an "arguably illegal" act by lobbying MPs. I am a lawyer by trade, and I am interested in thinking about a private prosecution. Could you let me know which law specifically you believe the charities are breaking, (if possible with the relevant section) and I will consider further?

    Regards
    Kenneth

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  2. http://www.charitycommission.gov.uk
    /publications/cc9.asp

    They are in clear breach, using their money to write to MPs to vote for a particular Bill. They're not the first, but that's not the point.

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  3. Hmm, this is difficult. As I am sure you will have seen, the explanation in the link you provide states that

    "Charities *can* campaign for a change in the law, policy or decisions (as detailed in this guidance in section C4) where such change would support the charity’s purposes. Charities can also campaign to ensure that existing laws are observed."

    As I said, I'm sure you will have seen this, as you sent me to this precise page. So whilst I'm slightly stumped as to how to bring about a private prosecution, I'm sure you have thought of a solution. What do you suggest that I / we do?

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  4. See if you can find any case law.

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  5. There isn't any. No one has brought a prosection, because the law is quite explicit - charities are specifically allowed to do this, as *the link you sent me* demonstrates.

    I'm confused. Did you not read the link you sent me? Why do you think there is an illegal act going on, when this law doesn't prove anything of the kind, and in fact specifically allows charities to do this? As I say, I'm still keen to try and mount some kind of prosecution, but I need a law that they're actually in breach of. Have you got anything more, or was all this just waffle? I really hope not.

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  6. But imagine if pro-life charities did anything like this. All hell would break loose. Perhaps it's time that somebody did test this in court?

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