Charity probe as Labour cash inon gifts for homeless

A HOMELESS charity is being investigated after donating hundreds of pounds of luxury cosmetics to the Labour Party, which sold them to raise election funds.

Food For All, which is fronted by 1980s pop star Jennie Matthias, gifted a Labour group dozens of boxes of soap it had received for free from high-street chain Lush. The soap was then sold in a pub by party officials at a ‘Lush For Labour’ event which raised £415 ahead of a local election campaign in Thanet, Kent.

The Charity Commission confirmed last night it was probing the donation, which contravenes strict rules around charities helping to raise money for political parties.

The chain of events began when Lush donated a 100-ton consignment of bath products to 38 charities earlier this year. Among the recipients was Food For All, based in Islington, North London, which provides 1,000 hot meals a day for the homeless.

One of the charity’s biggest supporters is Ms Matthias, former lead singer of The Belle Stars. On February 7, she appeared in a video posted on the Facebook page of Karen Constantine, a Labour coun- cillor on Thanet District Council who is running for election to Kent County Council in May’s local government poll.

The video shows Ms Matthias – an ardent supporter of Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn – in a warehouse surrounded by cardboard boxes.

She says: ‘We were fortunate enough to have been given by Lush thousands and thousands and thousands of pounds worth of Lush, and within that what we do is give it out to good causes. Today is one of the good causes that I really stand for as well… the Labour Party.’ The following day, a ‘Lush For Labour’ sale at the Churchill pub in Ramsgate, Kent, was advertised on Ms Constantine’s Facebook page.

The Charity Commission confirmed it was quizzing Food For All trustees, but had not yet opened a formal inquiry.

Ms Matthias said she took sole responsibility for the soap donation, adding: ‘It was always our intention to share with people that do good for their local communities, though we now know this was wrong for sharing our donations with a political party.’

Ms Constantine said: ‘I fully apologise for not knowing the election funding laws regarding charities.’ She added that the £415 raised has now been donated to local charities.