An immigration group has been given a �340,000 lottery grant on condition it abandons "doctrinaire" publicity and does not use the cash to oppose terrorist deportations.

The grant to the National Coalition of Anti-Deportation Campaigns (NCADC) has been at the centre of row, with the Daily Mail newspaper asking its readers to "vent their anger" on the issue.

The Community Fund, which says it has received hate mail in the controversy, has announced it will award the grant, but only with new conditions.

It said NCADC was being told to "clean up" its website, in particular comments about Home Secretary David Blunkett.

'No law breaking'

The grant was frozen in August after Mr Blunkett, as well as Culture Secretary Tessa Jowell, raised concerns.

The fund said there had been "legitimate" worries about the grant which meant extra conditions had to be imposed.

Fund chairman Lady Diana Brittan said the group did "valuable work" with individual asylum seekers.

The website included an attack on David Blunkett

Lady Brittan added: "We have no evidence that the NCADC has either broken the law or encouraged others to do so.

"Therefore, we have decided that the grant should go ahead."

The NCADC will have to ensure its "policies, activities and publications, including its website, are not doctrinaire".

It has also been told not to use lottery money to pursue cases where a terrorist is being deported as part of a court sentence.

'Inflammatory comments'

Lady Brittan also said new rules had been introduced in the light of the controversy.

Those include new checks on websites and making sure groups meet Charity Commission guidelines, whether they are charities or not.

Tessa Jowell raised concerns about the grant

Peter Deans, from the Community Fund, told BBC News 24 some of the "language and tone of their statements on the website had been pretty inflammatory".

He also stressed that only a very small share of lottery cash went to asylum groups, although these organisations did perform useful work.

Chief executive of the Community Fund, Richard Buxton, has asked the National Audit Office to investigate the fund's handling of the grant in an effort to reassure the public.

'Conditions will be met'

The NCADC's Pete Widlinske said the group would have no problems meeting the conditions and hoped the decision would end the row.

The grant would mean it could afford to pay staff for this month's work, he added.

Mr Widlinske said campaigners from outside the organisation had posted the comments causing most concern - which have now been removed.

In future, the group would just ensure no "doctrinaire" statements were published on the site.

Lottery money would not be used for the very small number of cases involving people convicted in court, he promised.

The asylum campaigner was keen to emphasise the positive aspects of the NCADC's work, which had helped win more than 100 cases.

"The measure of a mature democracy is that it does not feel threatened by a very small organisation like ourselves snapping at their heels," he added.

Player confidence

Lotto operator Camelot has blamed a �500,000 a week drop in sales on the row over the grant - a claim rejected by the Community Fund.

Ms Jowell told BBC News 24 that she backed the Community Fund's right to make the decision, whatever reservations she might have about the grant.

Lottery grants would continue to be distributed at "arms length" from the government, she said, and the conditions imposed were "right and proper".

Before the row broke out, Ms Jowell announced a review of how lottery cash was distributed. She said this would report next year.

Conservative shadow culture secretary John Whittingdale said the grant was another blow to the lottery's credibility.

"The money available for good causes has already been slashed as a result of the government creaming off funds to pay for projects which should be financed by the taxpayer," he said.

"Now the publicity given to grants awarded to politically correct causes has destroyed the public trust."

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Do you support the decision to award the NCADC with a lottery grant? What impact do you think it will have on the current climate surrounding asylum seekers? Tell us what you think.

Lottery cash/funds should only be issued to charities and projects that are for benefit of the British public. Lottery money is generated from the British public and should only be used for the British public and no one else.
C Bird, UK

How can they say that money wont be used to fight terrorist deportations? Do we know who terrorists are all of a sudden?
andy, UK

I feel that the fund is abusing the trust expected by those who buy the tickets.

Hugh, UK

No, and having seen the list of beneficiaries on the Community Fund's website I feel that the fund is abusing the trust expected by those who buy the tickets. There are more than enough good causes in the country or with links to the country that will not be as offensive as some of the funding already granted.
Hugh, UK

Surely the essence of giving to charity is that it is voluntary and the giver chooses the charity. Why not group 'deserving causes' under a small number of generic headings and allow lottery participants to tick a box against these headings on the lottery slip? Then the causes would get money in proportion to how deserving the general public think they are, rather than the views of a small group of unrepresentative individuals.
Paul Smith, UK

Like most people in the county I believed that 'good causes' meant good causes, not political agenda. Tessa Jowell comes across as arrogant and patronising, dismissing public opinion because she believes we are ignorant. Most people in this country disagree with her opinions, and the type organisations that benefited from this funding. The public should be listened to, or the lottery will fail. Its as simple as that.
Hugh Johnson, England

I would rather lottery money went to the NCADC than to Camelot's fat cat directors

David M, UK

I'm not a lottery player so I guess it's not my money which is going to the NCADC, but it's my view that all the people complaining about this award are being disingenuous in as much as they buy a lottery ticket to get rich, not to help charities and other organisations. If this isn't the case, will those people who have stopped playing the lottery give their weekly �1 (or whatever) to ex-servicemen's charities instead? I very much doubt it. I would rather lottery money went to the NCADC than to Camelot's fat cat directors in any case.
David M, UK

I am now playing the Lotteries in Ireland and USA rather than the UK because of the way funds for good causes are being wasted on these crackpot politically correct schemes.
Paul Jennings, UK

Its clear that the original aims of the lottery charity donations have been hijacked by both the government and by people with a political agenda which leads them to support organisations that the majority would not support. The government unfortunately don't seem moved to do anything about the situation. Why?
Rice, UK

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