The Telegraph, Toby Helm and Christopher Hope, 25/01/08

However, Opposition parties and campaigners fear the whole sector
will become dangerously politicised and a front for "political
lobbying" by organizations determined to influence policy.

Last night Tony Wright MP, the Labour chairman of the House of
Commons Public Administration Committee, said he would consider
launching an investigation into the issue.

Yesterday the committee took evidence from critics of the lobbying
industry, focusing on how lobbying works, whether it is transparent
and how the industry might be regulated.

Mr Wright said it was important to strike the right balance between
allowing charities to campaign for what they believed in, and
retaining their independence and integrity.

Charities, which receive hundreds of millions of pounds of tax breaks
every year, do not have to reveal the sources of their funding.

This has led some to fear that people seeking to "buy" influence with
politicians will do so increasingly by giving money to those
charities with clear political leanings and interests.

Greg Clark MP, the Tory spokesman on charities, said the Government's
desire to allow charities to become more political was "deeply
irresponsible" and could lead to a "collapse in confidence" in their
work.

Under the new "draft" guidance, to be considered by the Charity
Commission's board next week, charities can campaign politically so
long as it is not their sole activity, and is in line with their
charitable objective.

They will even be given the go-ahead to get involved in "emotive" and
"controversial" activities to further their political campaigns.

Charities will, however, continue to be barred from supporting a
particular party or getting involved in overt party political
campaigning.

Professor David Miller, of the Alliance for Lobbying Transparency,
said it was already the case that money was "pouring in" to charities
from people keen "to get closer to the political process".

"If charities are able to become more political, these changes will
increase that process. This strengthens the case for a public
register of lobbyists so that people can see who is funding them."

The Charity Commission said the rules were being rewritten so that
"trustees are more confident about the extent of political activity
they can engage in under charity law".

A spokesman added: "What can't happen is that political campaigning
becomes a charity's sole reason for existing - that would be a
political purpose, not a charitable purpose.

"And of course charities absolutely cannot support or campaign for a
political party, or assist any political party or candidate to be
elected."

The Charity Commission confirmed that although donations and other
income must be recorded in charities' annual returns, the identity of
donors can remain secret.

"There is no legal requirement to name individual or corporate donors
in their accounts, although some charities do so, and the Commission
isn't proposing to introduce such a requirement.

"Donors to charities can ask to remain anonymous, but charity
trustees have a duty of care to ensure that a donation is in the best
interests of the charity and are answerable to the Commission for any
breach of that duty of care."

The Tories suspect the rule change is being advanced by ministers to
get Gordon Brown off the hook in a controversy involving his own
favourite charity think-tank, the Smith Institute.

The Institute is currently being investigated by the Charity
Commission following claims it was being run as a political ideas
factory for Mr Brown when he was Chancellor.

It was said to have held many of its meetings at Number Eleven
Downing Street while claiming charitable status and posing as
politically independent.

An adviser to Ed Miliband, the Cabinet Minister in charge of
charities, said it was "outrageous" to suggest that the government
was trying to influence the independent Charity Commission as part of
a plan get Mr Brown and the Institute off the hook.