Boycotts and Sanctions

The Guardian reports that the government is seeking to tighten up the rules on political boycotts by Councils.  This sounds to me like another example of DCLG spin exaggerating the newness of a policy.


In fact Council are already restricted from awarding contracts for political reasons.  This was amply demonstrated when Brent Council awarded the waste and street cleaning contract to Veolia.  In that case there were also other good practical reasons why the campaigners' demands were impossible.  However, the primary objection was that political boycotts are unlawful under EU procurement law.  This were widely explained, but some people didn't want it to be true so decided it wasn't.  That is not a good basis for policy making.