UK Government fails to stop our Article 50 case – Newsletter

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Hello!

Yet again, it’s been busy at the Good Law Project. We never stop. Here are some updates for you.

Our Article 50 case

On Thursday the Court of Session in Scotland heard the UK Government’s last ditch attempt to stop the Court of Justice of the European Union making a ruling on the revocability of Article 50. They failed.

We have published our written arguments for the European Court on why the UK Parliament should have the power to cancel the Article 50 notice. The hearing date for our case has been confirmed by the Court of Justice, and it will take place on 27th November.

You may have noticed that the Government published its ‘Response’ in the Article 50 case. As our director Jolyon Maugham QC tweeted, it is extraordinary that it does not contend for a position – that we can unilaterally revoke the Article 50 notice – that protects the national interest if MPs vote to remain.  

This case has been part funded by 5,000 donors giving an average of £30 each, and we would like to say a huge thank-you to our supporters. The Article 50 case has been financially backed by the Good Law Project which has unfunded liabilities in connection with the case. If you are able to support us, please consider becoming a member or making a one-off donation.

The Vote Leave saga continues

In our last newsletter, we said that two Court of Appeal judges sitting in the High Court rejected the Electoral Commission’s application for permission to appeal. They said that the donations made by Vote Leave to Darren Grimes to meet his expenses with AggregateIQ were Vote Leave’s referendum expenses, and that there was no real prospect of persuading the Court of Appeal (you can read all about the rejection on our website).    

The Commission has now renewed its application for permission to the Court of Appeal. Like always, we will keep you updated as to how this progresses…   

Electoral Commission and the DUP

Two weeks ago, the Electoral Commission issued a press release stating that it is unlikely to be able to respond adequately to our proposed judicial review. It also send us a response to our letter of claim and sought to bind us to keep it confidential. As you may recall, the judicial review concerns the Commission’s failure (1) to investigate whether the DUP breached election law in accepting a donation from the CRC and (2) to take action against the CRC for failing to declare its referendum expenses. For background as to what sparked the judicial review, click here. We will make a decision as to our next steps next week – but we currently anticipate we will continue with those judicial review proceedings.

Our minimum wage case

You may have seen Press Gazette’s coverage of our case against the upmarket magazine Monocle. We’ve been helping former intern Amalia Illgner sue the magazine owned by former FT columnist Tyler Brûlé, for minimum wage and we want a judge to rule against them at the employment tribunal in order to protect interns generally .

We are exploring the idea of launching a private prosecution. If you have worked for Monocle as an intern, please do contact us on info@goodlawproject.org.

News from our director

Our director Jolyon Maugham QC wrote a piece for The Guardian about the injunction that was granted to the businessman Philip Green. You can read it here.

How can you help

To help us keep up the good work, please, if you can, support us financially by becoming a member or making a one-off donation.

Thank-you,

The Good Law Project

@GoodLawProject