Vote Leave, our Article 50 appeal, and indentured labour – Newsletter

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Hello!

We’ve had some interesting developments since our last newsletter.

Vote Leave and the Electoral Commission

You’ve heard the news about Vote Leave, right? In a Guardian piece, our director Jolyon Maugham explored what Vote Leave’s cheating means for the referendum and the future of our democracy

It was the Good Law Project’s judicial review that caused the Electoral Commission to reopen its investigation into Vote Leave’s spending. That investigation has now delivered the conclusion that Vote Leave cheated. While we wait for the Commission to publish its full findings, we’re also waiting for a decision from the High Court on a related question. As you may recall, last month the Court heard the GLP’s judicial review of the Commission’s failure to police Vote Leave spending limits.

We’ve had some big wins recently, but we are a very small organisation, and we can’t do this work without your support. Please help us.   

We’re appealing…

We’re very pleased to announce that we filed papers appealing the decision of the Court of Session refusing to refer to the Court of Justice in Luxembourg the question whether the UK can unilaterally revoke its Article 50 notification. We have also received great news that the Good Law Project has been granted a protective expenses order, meaning that the appeal can go ahead. If necessary, we will appeal all the way to the Supreme Court.

The hearing in the Inner House of the Court of Session is scheduled for 15th August 2018.

For our crowdfunding campaign and background to the case, see here.

Our indentured labour case

As you know, we launched a crowdfunding campaign to take outsourcing giants Capita and FDM to court over their so-called ‘graduate programmes’. After pressure from us, Capita abandoned its demand that graduates pay for training if they leave before finishing the two-year period, so now it’s FDM we’re pursuing, as well as another firm which engages in the same practice, Sparta Global.   

These schemes indenture thousands of young people, and we want the High Court to declare these arrangements as unlawful. However, we’re some way off our initial crowdfunding target, and we need as much help and support as possible. We can’t let these companies get away with this.    

On our website, we’ve also got a guest blog post from Felicity Gerry QC, who writes how corporates are exploiting Government failure to tackle modern slavery.

News from our director

Our director Jolyon Maugham QC appeared on Radio 4 on Tuesday commenting about Vote Leave’s spending limits. You can listen to his interview 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