Support Our Work Mailing list About / Contact

Economic League disbanded

01 May 1993

Support our work: become a Friend of Statewatch from as little as £1/€1 per month.

The Economic League, the rightwing employment vetting agency, which kept blacklists on thousands of people, is reported to have disbanded. The League, which is acknowledged to have close links with the security services, had accumulated files on at least 30,000 people. During the 1980s it had more than 2,000 companies subscribing to it bringing in an annual income of over £1 million.

The files that it held contained details of political and trade union activists, Labour Party MPs and individuals who, for instance, had written to their local papers protesting at government policy. The League always maintained that "innocent" people had nothing to fear as they only kept files on "known members of extreme organisations". Nonetheless, the information they disseminated resulted in numerous cases of long periods of unemployment and hardship for the victims.

It is believed that the League will resurface in different guises and that its card files, used to avoid the provisions of the Data Protection Act, will be maintained. Stan Hardy, the League's director-general, and Jack Windsor, director of information, are thought to be setting up a new consultancy using this material while the Birmingham branch, which dealt with alleged "subversives" in the construction industry, is believed to have been taken over by former director Ian Kerr.

Guardian 24.4.93.

Our work is only possible with your support.
Become a Friend of Statewatch from as little as £1/€1 per month.

 Previous article

France: police kill four

Next article 

UK: Public interest immunity (feature)

 

Spotted an error? If you've spotted a problem with this page, just click once to let us know.

Report error

Statewatch does not have a corporate view, nor does it seek to create one, the views expressed are those of the author. Statewatch is not responsible for the content of external websites and inclusion of a link does not constitute an endorsement. Registered UK charity number: 1154784. Registered UK company number: 08480724. Registered company name: The Libertarian Research & Education Trust. Registered office: MayDay Rooms, 88 Fleet Street, London EC4Y 1DH. © Statewatch ISSN 1756-851X. Personal usage as private individuals "fair dealing" is allowed. We also welcome links to material on our site. Usage by those working for organisations is allowed only if the organisation holds an appropriate licence from the relevant reprographic rights organisation (eg: Copyright Licensing Agency in the UK) with such usage being subject to the terms and conditions of that licence and to local copyright law.

About | Contact | Privacy Policy