Charities will be returned to 'centre of national life', says culture secretary

Charities should criticise the government if they disagree on policy areas such as immigration or the environment, the culture secretary said yesterday as she announced plans to restore civil society organisations to "the centre of our national life".

- Robert Booth

Lisa Nandy said publicly speaking out was "critical to a healthy, functioning democracy" and that charities should "tell government where we're getting it wrong and work with us to set it right". She said they should no longer be told to "stick to their knitting", a reference to a criticism by a previous Conservative government that charities had strayed too far into politics.

Nandy unveiled a new deal between the government and the £54bn-a-year charity sector that aims to give charity bosses greater influence and enlist them in the delivery of Labour's five core missions.

Keir Starmer had told charity bosses at a Downing Street reception on Thursday: "To fix the foundations of our country we need a fundamental reset of the relationship between government and civil society.

"By harnessing the dynamism, innovation and trusted reach of civil society organisations, we can boost growth and deliver better outcomes for communities right across the country."