Who Funds the Thinktanks that are Influencing British Politics?
British politics is now shaped by organisations that call themselves thinktanks, but would be better described as lobbyists who refuse to reveal who funds them.
They are now in the heart of government, influencing policy to benefit their donors.
Scroll down if you believe societies needs should come before those of large anonymous donors.
Policy Areas
The World They Want
The policies they're lobbying for and the impact that will have on society
Right wing thinktanks want less intervention in the housing market. That means less social housing, fewer council homes, lower standards of construction, more luxury homes for the super-rich & investment properties for private landlords.
Right wing thinktanks want less regulation in the jobs market. That means weaker worker protection, more unfair dismissals, lower health and safety standards, longer working weeks, reductions in parental leave and sickness leave and weakened job security
Right wing thinktanks want less protection for the environment. That means more sewage in our waters, higher levels of pollution in our air, more contaminants in our food, reduced biodiversity and no action on climate chaos.
Right wing thinktanks want a privatised healthcare system. That means selling off the NHS, no healthcare for those that cannot afford it and a system where insurance companies decide whether you get treated or not.
Right wing thinktanks want to reduce civil liberties, whilst at the same time cutting funding to the criminal justice system, preventing crimes from being prosecuted and innocent people from being properly defended.
Right wing think tanks want to privatise education, with companies making profits from running schools. reducing the cost and the quality of education and exacerbating the inequalities that already exist.
The steps that you can take to help
Step 1
Subscribe to our social media. Engage, share and promote.
Step 2
Help us to track their sphere of Influence
Step 3
Help us develop our network. We want to establish friends in parliament, the media and wider civil society.
Step 4
Donate. Our campaign is currently run by volunteers in their spare time. We'd like to hire someone that can dedicate themselves to this campaign.
More transparent think tanks!
Media Tracking
We need your help to track their Sphere of Influence
We want to know where they appeared, which policies they're trying to influence and whether the validity of their arguments and their organisation was challenged.
Radio and Television Appearances
Right wing think tanks are regularly invited on to radio and television as independent commentators. They are rarely challenged on their bias and rarely asked who it is that funds them. We want to keep a track of these appearances so we can demonstrate the influence these secretive organisations have
Quoted in News Articles
We have seen that opinion from right wing think tanks is often quoted as news. The press releases for the reports they write are often treated as if they have the same integrity as research from academic institutions
Speaking at Events
We are keen to find out about the events that right wing think tanks speak at and the people of public significance that attend them.
Comment Pieces
It is very rare for news outlets to question the funding of the organisations that write comment pieces for them. We think they ought to publish expenses in the same way that politicans do
Attendance in Parliament
The IEA famously bragged that it incubated Liz Truss and Kwasi Kwarteng. We would like to know more about the influence that right wing think tanks have in parliament and cataloging the MPs that it has close connections with
Help Us Develop Our Network
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Flexible Team
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Ecologic Software
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