Why do left-wing think tanks get taxpayer funding while right-wing ones get nothing?
Another very strange legacy from the Conservative Party
Earlier this month Angela Rayner delivered the keynote speech at the 40th anniversary of the New Economics Foundation, where she “spoke about the power of devolution.” In a tweet, she wrote “After forty years, NEF’s mission may be unfinished. But it is more vital than ever.”
Another MP to attend was Miatta Fahnbulleh, who is being talked about as the economic mastermind behind Andy Burnham and was once the Chief Executive of the NEF. Fahnbulleh posted that it was “Fantastic to celebrate 40 years of NEF and its huge contribution to economic thinking & progressive ideas.”
It’s pretty obvious from these endorsements alone that the NEF is a big player in left-wing circles, but there’s also ample proof on its website. For instance, one of the think tank’s missions is a “fast and fair transition to a green economy through a deep and equitable transformation to address the climate crisis” and in a post titled “Share the wealth”, it has written about why “richest few are taking too much”. Its website is littered with more ideological nonsense.
With that being said, I wonder why taxpayers are expected to fund the NEF year by year? (which received £379,500 from taxpayers between 2021-25). Especially when (as I will show in this article), right-wing think tanks do not get the same government income.
Shockingly, it’s far from the first left-wing think tank to receive government funding. Other examples (and this is just a small sample) are:
