Sacha Lord’s nightlife lobbying group has withdrawn from a 35,000 government grant after The Mill pointed out false claims in its application for funding.
The Night Time Industries Association (NTIA), which Lord chairs, was recently offered the money to train young people to work in the music industry, despite Lord’s chequered history with public grants.
But documents obtained under Freedom of Information laws show that the NTIA misled the Arts Council in applying for the funds. The NTIA claimed that some of the 35,000 of taxpayers’ money would be matched by two large companies, satisfying a mandatory condition of the scheme.
One of the companies told us they had never been approached about the project and the other said no deal had been agreed. After we questioned the NTIA about our findings, the group said it was withdrawing its application, which the Arts Council confirmed.
Last year, Lord was forced to resign as Andy Burnham’s nightlife advisor after the Arts Council asked his defunct company to repay more than 400,000 it won via a misleading grant application. Lord threatened to sue The Mill after we broke the story, but later admitted “a small number of unintended oversights” in the application.
The money has never been repaid, but Lord has stayed close to Burnham, donating 35,390 to Burnham’s parliamentary and leadership campaigns earlier this year. On the day Burnham became prime minister, Lord was invited to Downing Street and was photographed outside Number 10.
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