The Attorney General has rejected calls for a dormant charity's funds to be handed to good causes
Calls for a hundreds of millions of pounds that have been stuck within a dormant charity to be given to good causes have fallen on deaf ears.
The National Fund was set up in 1928 to pay the country’s national debt – with £500,000 allocated by an anonymous donor to help meet national war debts.
Last week, the Attorney General was pressed to ensure that the fund – now standing at £475 million as a result of interest - is allocated to charities, with the national debt sitting at £1.7 trillion.
However Jeremy Wright has now applied to the High Court for the fund to be used for its original purpose, despite its value never reaching higher than 0.066% of the national debt.
Wright said: “Almost 90 years ago, an anonymous donor bequeathed money to the nation and yet we have not been able to put it to good use. We have been working with the Treasury, trustees and the Charity Commission to find a solution consistent with the donor’s original objectives of extinguishing the national debt.
“I am applying to the high court to ask that the fund is released and. if that application is successful, the fund could be used to benefit the nation by helping to do what the original donors intended.”
The fund has not been used as it contained a mandate to build an endowment large enough to pay off all the money the UK owed in one go. The Charity Commission has been seeking permission since 2011 to donate the money to charities as it is accepted that the fund will never come close to paying off the national debt.
Wright’s decision to opt not to hand the money to charity has drawn criticism.
John Downie, director of public affairs for the Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations (SCVO), had called for careful consideration to be given to ensure the fund was put to best use.
“Putting this money towards paying off the national debt is entirely pointless,” he said. “This fund was set up to make a difference to the country, but will be swallowed up in a debt that is in danger of spiralling out of control.
“This £475m could have been used in a radical way to help most vulnerable and poorest in our society, but yet again charities have been snubbed by those in Westminster.”
Steve Reed, the shadow minister for civil society, highlighted that the fund would have no effect on Britain’s level of national debt.
He said: “This £475m would offer a tidal wave of support for small charities, but it’s a drop in the ocean compared to the national debt. In fact, the national debt is rising so fast that by the end of the same day this payment is made towards it, the debt will have risen by nearly the same amount.
“This government never misses a chance to sideline charities. Here’s a real chance to do some real good but the government is threatening to do nothing instead.”
Dave Scott, campaign director for anti-sectarianism charity Nil by Mouth, said that smaller charities had been snubbed in favour of faceless city traders.
"This is an absurd decision," he said. "When faced with the choice of providing money to tackle poverty or throwing hundreds of millions to faceless city traders the UK government has decided to reward the fat cats. I don’t recall Attorney Generals being so concerned with the national debt when it came to bringing the bankers who caused so much of it before a court of law. And I won’t be holding my breath on this one doing it either."
