The Charity Commission has reopened a complaint against a think tank accused of breaching charity law on political campaigning.

In March, the Good Law Project, a not-for-profit organisation that uses the law to protect the interests of the public, sent a letter backed by a cross-party group of politicians to the regulator about the Institute of Economic Affairs.

The GLP claimed the IEA conducted unbalanced educational research and had inappropriate relationships with its offshoot organisations.

The IEA said the complaint was a “vexatious publicity stunt” that contained “nothing new and little of substance”.

The regulator decided not to move forward with the complaint but the GLP asked the commission to review its decision, saying it had handled the situation with “kid gloves”.

The Good Law Project said: “Despite several pages of evidence, it took just 12 days for the commission to give the charity a clean bill of health, saying it would not ‘stifle’ the ‘importance’ of a think-tank widely credited as the inspiration for Liz Truss’s disastrous mini budget.

“The decision was so shocking that we went back to Dr Andrew Purkis and our group of MPs to issue a formal complaint over the commission’s handling of this case. 

“We argued that the strength of evidence we submitted in March was so strong that it was irrational for the Charity Commission to conclude there’s no cause for concern – particularly in light of the IEA’s history of flouting charity law.”

Last week, the regulator sent a letter to the GLP announcing it would be re-opening its case into the IEA.

“After carefully considering the concerns raised by the complainants, alongside the commission’s case file pertaining to the complaint raised on 13 March 2024, [we] have determined a need to re-conduct an assessment of the information provided in the GLP’s letters dated 13 March and 10 May 2024,” the regulator said.

“The assessment against our published risk framework will now be re-conducted to assess whether or not there are any issues which require regulatory engagement or action.

“In reaching this conclusion, [we] have not assessed the substance of the concerns raised at this time nor made any findings.”

A spokesperson for the IEA said: "The IEA agrees with comments made by the regulator in March that ‘some have sought to co-opt the Charity Commission into campaigns against think tanks with which they disagree’.

"In our view, the Good Law Project’s complaint is political and vexatious. 

“It is rooted in prior complaints that the regulator has already ruled on – generally in the IEA’s favour – as well as opposition to our educational mission.

"We are confident that this re-evaluation will find against the Good Law Project again. If anything, this news serves to highlight the Charity Commission’s original concern about abuse of due process by lawfare groups."

The Charity Commission has been contacted for comment.