[4] It has been called "arguably the most influential think tank in Britain pushing its free market pro-Brexit vision and enjoying privileged access to media and ministers" but it has attracted controversy as a result of its opaque, offshore funding.
[9] In 2018, it was criticised by the Charity Commission for breaching its charitable objectives in publishing a partial and biased account of the benefits of free trade post-Brexit.
In 2017, it set up a "Special Trade Commission" headed by director of economic policy Shanker Singham, who became a prominent pro-Brexit voice across the media.
In 2021, Chandler successfully revived the libel case after it was initially dismissed,[19] and in 2024, a jury awarded him $8 million in damages after finding in his favor.
[27] The Legatum Institute houses the Social Metrics Commission, founded in 2016, which published its first report into UK poverty levels in 2018.
[30] On the 17th May 2019, the Department for Work and Pensions announced that it would adopt the Social Metrics Commission's methodology for measuring poverty in the UK.
[33][34][35] The Commission's modelling was used by Baroness Stroud and the Legatum Institute in a campaign to call for the Chancellor of the Exchequer to retain the £20 Universal Credit uplift in Autumn 2021.
[42] At the 2015 Africa Prosperity Summit, the Legatum Institute participated as a panellist during the session on "Stoking African Innovation: Ways and Means", which focused on addressing economic and social requirements.
[43] The same year, the Institute commissioned YouGov to investigate public attitudes towards capitalism, which highlighted a nearly universal belief that the biggest corporations in the world had become successful through cheating and at the expense of the environment.
[45] The top priorities for respondents were: food and water; emergency services; universal healthcare; a good house; a decent well-paying job; and compulsory and free education.
[48] In July 2018, Legatum Institute released a report linking "anxiety, self-harm and other mental illness with high social media use among young people".
[4][56] In July 2017, soon after the UK's EU referendum result, Legatum Institute formed the Special Trade Commission, headed by Shanker Singham (who backed remain in the run-up to the EU referendum) and included former New Zealand Ambassador and Permanent Representative to the World Trade Organization Crawford Falconer as a commissioner.
[59] The solution, which by the report's own admission faced issues around cost and bad weather, was criticised[60] – the Daily Telegraph describing it as being "held up to ridicule".
[66] In June 2018 the UK's Charity Commission said the Institute's 'Brexit Inflection Report' could be seen as seeking to achieve a "particular final outcome", something that would constitute political activity and an infringement of policy.