Tracey Couch resigns as Minister for Civil Society

The Minister for Sport, Civil Society, and Loneliness, Tracey Crouch has resigned her position in protest of the government’s delaying of changes to gambling laws. Crouch published a copy of her resignation letter on Twitter yesterday (1 November). In it, she says that the Prime Minister’s support for a reduction in the stake of fixed odds betting terminals had been welcome but that the subsequent decision to delay implementing these changes until October next year is, she feels, inexcusable: “…two people will tragically take their lives every day due to gambling related problems and for that reason as much as any other I believe this delay is unjustifiable.” She goes on to say that she cannot see any reason why implementation should not come in earlier than October 2019, when the alignment of the stake reduction with an increase in remote gaming duty was a condition put on by the Treasury to provide fiscal neutrality but is not a technical necessity.   https://twitter.com/tracey_crouch/status/1058053597399789568 She also thanks the ‘amazing team’ that have helped her in her three and a half years in the post and states her pride in what has been achieved in that time, including the sports strategy, the gambling review, the Civil Society strategy, and the loneliness strategy. Commenting on her resignation, Sir Stuart Etherington, NCVO Chief Executive, said: "Tracey has been a passionate and inspiring minister for civil society. Her strong leadership in creating a cross-government civil society strategy demonstrated a real commitment to supporting the work of charities across the country. She made a point of always trying to work in partnership with charities and in doing so gained a great deal of good will. Her work to help improve safeguarding standards was exemplary of her thoughtful and constructive approach. She leaves a strong legacy and we will play our role in ensuring momentum continues in implementing the important strategy she put in place." The Institute of Fundraising's Peter Lewis also expressed his sorrow at her resignation: https://twitter.com/piterk68/status/1058050644844691456  

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