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Case Update

Public First: We’re in Court tomorrow

24th November 2021

Tomorrow, we’re in Court. The Government is appealing the High Court’s ruling that it acted unlawfully – that there was apparent bias – in its award of a contract to associates of Dominic Cummings and Michael Gove.

Our lawyers have been working round the clock to defend this appeal. If we do lose, Good Law Project will be on the line for all of Government’s costs (and our own) from the first hearing and the costs of the appeal. It’s a huge sum of money and more than we have raised. 

Back in June, when the High Court ruled that the Government had acted unlawfully by handing a contract to a company owned by associates of Cummings and Gove, it vindicated what Good Law Project had been saying all along: there is institutionalised cronyism at the heart of Government. 

We think the real reason for the Government’s decision to appeal the Court’s ruling is because they want to delay another case we are bringing regarding the award of another contract to allies of Michael Gove, this time to a company called Hanbury. That case cannot be heard until this appeal is over. We think they want to delay another embarrassing loss.

But we’re not going away. We will use the appeal to make the point yet again that handing taxpayers’ money to your mates is no way to run the country. 

It’s unfair and it’s unlawful.


If you are in a position to donate to this case, you can do so here

More information:

BBC, Government acted unlawfully over firm’s £560,000 Covid contract
Good Law Project, Government is appealing
Good Law Project, Hanbury: They’re getting rich from Covid-19
Guardian, Rayner urges Tories to repay £580k of public funds spent on polling

Case

This article is part of our Money for their mates case

The High Court has now ruled Michael Gove broke the law by giving a contract to a communications agency run by long time associates of him and Dominic Cummings.

See more about this case