Tax Protesters Win Lotto Cash

Lottery bosses are defending a decision to award a grant of nearly £5,000 to a militant group of elderly council tax campaigners. Devon Pensioners' Action Forum - which has run a high-profile campaign, particularly in Exeter, against council tax rises and called for more generous pensions - has been handed £4,837 by the Awards for All fund.

Pensioners with the group have appeared in court in recent years for refusing to pay all their council taxes.

And Exeter campaigner Sylvia Hardy, among the most prominent members of the group, is set to go to prison for refusing to pay all the charge.

The 73-year-old was given a 56-day suspended committal order in June by city magistrates to pay her outstanding tax of £63.71.

If she does not settle the bill, she will be sent to jail for seven days later this month.

Awards for All - a lottery grants scheme aimed at local communities which awards grants of between £500 and £5,000 - is not permitted to issue cash to political groups.

But it said it was well within its rights to give the campaign group lottery money.

According to the scheme, the grant has been awarded to allow the DPAF to set up an administrative section to help it create and send out its newsletter.

Lottery Awards for All senior awards officer Steve Barriball said: "We are able to fund organisations such as the Devon Pensioners' Action Forum.

"The group is a forum for older people in Devon and provides information to its members on a range of issues."

Albert Venison, chairman of the forum, said: "Some people may criticise us for receiving this lottery grant, but how else are we supposed to get funding?

"We have in the past applied for funding from other sources but they have turned us down by saying we are a campaigning organisation.

"Although we are a campaign group we are non-party political. We have members who are members of a number of political parties.

"We have Labour supporters, Conservative supporters and UKIP supporters.

"The purpose of our campaigning is to try to give older people a better quality of life by having better pensions and lower council taxes."

As well as carrying out a council tax non-payment campaign, the group has also organised protests and taken its calls for lower council taxes to the Prime Minister.