Civitas
The think tank Civitas is supposedly independent of the Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA), but the presence of an advisory board of IEA stalwarts such as Sir Peter Walters, Lord Ralph Harris of High Cross (Bruges group with Norris McWhirter etc.), Patrick Barbour and Kenneth Minogue contradicts this supposition. Director (and ex-Labour councillor) David Green has been IEA since 1984. It focuses on race, health and welfare reform and promotes the political scientist Charles Murray's ideas on the 'underclass'.
In a March 2009 presentation Tim Montgomerie and Matthew Elliott described Civitas as part of the infrastructure of the conservative movement in Britain.[1]
Contents
On Immigration
Civitas' work on immigration was criticised in 2004 by journalist Faisal Islam:
- The Government's estimate of a £2.5 billion gain to the Exchequer from immigration came under fire last week from right-wing think tank Civitas. It managed to calculate a marginally negative figure, lapped up as proof of mass scrounging by Britain's immigrants.
- But the figure was a result of subtracting the cost of running the immigration service from the taxes paid by immigrants. But is it right to count the cost of controlling immigration - essentially our political choice - against the workers' tax contribution? Plenty more arbitrary fiscal benefits, such as the fact that almost all immigrants come ready-schooled by their own state, could be added to counter the Civitas figures.[2]
People
- David Green Executive Director
- Robert Whelan Deputy Director
- Stephen Pollard
Academic Advisory Council
- Norman Barry (Chairman) | Brenda Almond (University of Hull) | Barbara Ballis Lal (UCLA) | Peter Collison (University of Newcastle upon Tyne) | Tim Congdon | David Conway (Middlesex University) | Antony Flew | Thomas Griffin | R.M. Hartwell | Dennis O'Keeffe (University of Buckingham) | Robert Pinker (London School of Economics) | Duncan Reekie (University of Witwatersrand) | Peter Saunders | Jim Thornton (University of Nottingham) | James Tooley (University of Newcastle upon Tyne)
Trustees
- The Honourable Justin Shaw (Chairman)
- Sir Peter Walters (Deputy Chairman)
- Dr Philip Brown (Treasurer)
- Patrick Barbour
- The Hon. Mrs. Silvia Le Marchant
- Professor Kenneth Minogue
- Douglas Myers CBE
- Lord Vinson of Roddam Dene
Patrons and Founder Patrons
contact
10 Storey's Gate, Westminster [3]
Affiliations
- Centre for Social Cohesion – set up by Civitas
Notes
- ↑ Tim Montgomerie, The growth of Britain's conservative movement, ConservativeHome, 14 March 2009.
- ↑ Faisal Islam, Foreign workers: fact and fiction: Immigrants are vital to the British economy, whatever the tabloids say, says Faisal Islam, Observer, 11 April 2004, p.4.
- ↑ http://www.keningtons.com/index.asp?PageID=400
