A reception by the Food Standards Agency on Tuesday 2 June 2026 was held to mark World Food Day.   Susan Jebb the FSA Chair Susan Jebb ( left) spoke about the FSA's work. there are 600,000 registered food businesses in England Northern Ireland and Wales. Their main objectives are to protect public health from risks arising from the consumption of food and to protect the interests of consumers in relation to food. The Minister Sharon Hodgson MP (below left) spoke about the Government's 10 year plan and the Chair of the Health Select Committee Layla Moran MP (below right) spoke about the inquiries her committee are currently undertaking and the committee was due to take evidence from the Minister the next day. The FSA mission for food is: Food is safe, Food is what it says it is and Food is healthier and more sustainable.  To find out more: www.food.gov.uk

I was pleased to speak to and hear from the authors of the Report, "Givers and Takers"  about transparency in the use of public money.   






Key findings:
• The UK’s donations-contracts nexus involves huge amounts of money being donated by private companies to political parties, who then award them government contracts at a future date.
• We identify 373 companies that have been both Givers (have made donations that were declared to the Electoral Commission) and Takers (have received a contract from a public sector contracting authority). We call these ‘giver and taker’ companies.
• Over the last 25 years, ~£47 million has been donated by ‘giver and taker’ companies in total who have also received public contracts.


• Since 2015, the total value of contracts awarded to these same companies totals ~£60 billion.


• The amount companies donate is dwarfed by the financial worth of the public contracts they receive.


• In effect, for every £1 donated by a ‘giver and taker’ company since 2000, over £1,294 of public funds have been given out in the form of contracts to this same set of companies since in the last decade alone


• Just under 10% of ‘giver and taker’ companies (35 out of 373) were awarded a large UK government contract within two years of donating to a major political party which then assumed power.

• 29 of these companies donated just under £11 million to the Conservative Party, and were then awarded contracts worth £2.3 billion while the party was in government (May 2015 to July 2024).

• 8 corporations which donated over £580,000 to the Labour Party and were awarded contracts totalling over £138 million within the first year of the current Labour government (July 2024-June 2025).



• Two companies, Microsoft and PwC, had such a relationship with both major governing parties.


Policy recommendations:

• Public contracts should not be awarded to companies that have made political donations.

• All political donations above £500 should be logged through real-time disclosures, with full details available for public scrutiny.
• Company numbers of donor entities must be published alongside other donation details.
• Reinstate reporting requirements for defence and spending contracts.



















Authors, Sonia Balagopalan  Will Stronge

Here you can read the eNews for May 2026

Craig and Lindsay were detained on a visit through Iran on a global motorbike journey in January 2025 and were charged with espionage and sentenced to 10 years in Iran's Evin Prison on 19 February 2026. Craig and Lindsey have been on hunger strike since their phone access to their family was cut off 2 weeks ago.

Tony Vaughan KC MP secured an adjournment debate about the Imprisonment of Craig and Lindsay Foreman in Iran on 21 May 2026 who are the parents of his constituent. During the response to the debate I asked the Minister for the Middle East, North Africa, Afghanistan and Pakistan:

"This House has heard, sadly, the comments that the Minister has made about the Government pressing this case. He will know that it was pressure from this House, and from the families, that caused the release of the other hostages in Iran. Will he undertake, as the hon. Member for Rutland and Stamford (Alicia Kearns) suggested, to contact his counterpart at the end of this debate and ensure that the family get proper access to Craig and Lindsay Foreman? We will repeat their names in this House until they are released."

 

This is the Year of Reading and i was pleased to take part in a Roundtable hosted by The Reading Agency on 19 May 2026. The CEO Karen Napier reminded us it is 20 years when Quick Reads were established. Gail Rebuck chaired a discussion which included Nick Serota (Arts Council ) William Sieghart, Baroness Twycross, the Minister, DCMS, and the author of a Quick Read, "One False Move" Dreda Say Mitchell (with me in the main picture). The pictures below set out the statistics on the impact of reading.