Fysh lashes St Margaret’s
The genteel world of charity, fund raising and doing good works is rarely a matter for Parliament.
But passions have been aroused by the decision by St Margaret’s Hospice last year, to close their inpatient ward in Yeovil.
In what was technically a point of order, Yeovil MP Marcus Fysh attacked the charity yesterday. Addressing the speaker he more or less accused St Margaret’s of mis-selling.
His statement in the Commons follows an investigation by the charity commission that found St Margaret’s had not acted in bad faith.
Hansard records his exact words: “On a point of order, Mr Speaker. Many of my constituents and their families have given money to a charity called St Margaret’s Hospice on the basis that it would spend that money on an in-patient unit in Yeovil, but it has closed that unit. Unfortunately, the Charity Commission investigation that I helped to get under way was not able to prove “bad faith”. What avenues are open to me to engage with Ministers to examine the way in which the Charity Commission legal frameworks operate to make sure that such potential cases of mis-selling do not go unpunished in the future?”