The Times- Taxpayers gave Stonewall £2.6m over four years

Taxpayers gave Stonewall £2.6m over four years

The charity Stonewall is losing supporters after it was found to have provided inaccurate legal advice on transgender people
The charity Stonewall is losing supporters after it was found to have provided inaccurate legal advice on transgender people
ANGELA WEISS/AFP/GETTY IMAGES
Lucy Bannerman
The Times

The gay rights charity Stonewall received £2.6 million in government grants over four years, figures show.

The lobbying group’s value for money is under review after Liz Truss, the equalities minister, called for all government departments to withdraw from its employment scheme amid concerns over costs.

In an analysis of the charity’s accounts, the TaxPayers’ Alliance calculated that the government gave Stonewall at least £2,616,102 between 2015 and 2019. That was in addition to funds raised through other schemes in which employers, including 250 government departments and public bodies, pay subscriptions to be endorsed as an LGBT-friendly workplace. Schools and colleges pay Stonewall to advise them on what to do, for example, when a child wants to change gender.

The TaxPayers’ Alliance, a pressure group that campaigns for lower taxes and public spending, said that the Department for Education provided the largest total grant, giving Stonewall £934,424 between 2015-16 and 2018-19. The Foreign and Commonwealth Office and Welsh government were the second and third largest public sector sources for grants, giving £660,028 and £552,326 respectively.

The charity is losing supporters after it was found to have provided inaccurate legal advice on transgender people.

Channel 4 and the Equality and Human Rights Commission are among organisations that have withdrawn from its Diversity Champions programme in recent weeks.

Stonewall says it is proud of its work campaigning for “acceptance without exception” for all LGBT people.

Opponents claim, however, that by advising partners to write their internal policies on the law as Stonewall proposes, rather than the law as it is, leaves organisations at risk of legal challenges. “Stonewall is charging people to put in practice Stonewall law, rather than UK law,” Stephanie Davies-Arai, founder of Transgender Trend, said.

The Mail on Sunday reported that a mother claimed to have been horrified to find that her daughter’s school had paid £1,700 to join Stonewall’s diversity scheme but could not afford enough lavatory paper. “There is no requirement for a primary school, or any school, to teach their children about gender identity ideology,” Davies-Arai said. “Cash-strapped schools are spending a lot of money on a group that makes up a tiny proportion of students, which means they are neglecting other groups.”

John O’Connell, chief executive of the TaxPayers’ Alliance, said: “The public purse should not be paying out to pressure groups who in turn are using that cash to push for policy changes.”

Stonewall declined to say how much it received from government grants. A representative said: “All lesbian, gay, bi, trans and queer people should be free to be themselves, but we know that in 2021 this still isn’t the case.

“We’re proud of all of our work, including our programmes funded by government grants.”

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