Cases

Leaked documents revealed that ‘Operation Moonshot’, the Government’s plan to increase its Coronavirus testing programme, was based on technology that didn’t even exist yet – and would cost over £100 billion. But, in March 2021, the courts refused permission for a judicial review.

In 1539, Henry VIII gained the right to legislate by decree, enabling him to bypass Parliament altogether. And now Boris Johnson, the man who has already tried and failed to suspend Parliament, is taking further cues on democracy from a Tudor King.

We challenged the Government to ensure that all children had the resources to learn online from home during the Covid-19 pandemic. While we did not achieve all we had hoped, we kept up pressure on the Education Secretary.

We challenged the Government to review its Clean Air Strategy – but we were denied permission to bring that challenge. But there’s a silver lining, as the judge left the door open for further challenges on the ‘precautionary principle’ on environmental hazards.

With noted environmentalist, Dale Vince, we have written to the Government to require that it reviews the Airports National Policy Statement – or face legal proceedings. The claim, if successful, will mean Heathrow Airport expansion will have to meet much tougher environmental standards to get the go-ahead.

The NHS commissions Gender Identity Development Service (GIDS) to provide specialist assessment, consultation and care for children and young people to help reduce the distressing feelings of a mismatch between their assigned sex and their gender identity.

Together with EveryDoctor, we launched legal proceedings against the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) over the award of a PPE contract to a jeweller from Florida, who had no previous experience supplying PPE.

In April, Government announced that they supported the creation of the UK Rapid Test Consortium (UK-RTC). The idea was that the companies and institutions involved would create a rapid antibody test. On 2nd June, Government awarded a contract worth £10 million to Abingdon Health for the materials needed to produce the test. On 14th August, they handed Abingdon Health another contract worth a staggering £75 million.

Each week it seems another individual secures a role of vital public importance without any advertisement or fair process – and very often that individual has personal and political connections to Government.

The High Court has now ruled “The Secretary of State acted unlawfully by failing to comply with the Transparency Policy” and that “there is now no dispute that, in a substantial number of cases, the Secretary of State breached his legal obligation to publish Contract Award Notices within 30 days of the award of contracts.”

We have received hundreds of emails from devastated students, whose grades have been downgraded and who have lost their university places and job offers, lost funding and scholarships, and completely lost their faith that their Government will help.

This legal campaign helped draw wide attention to the institutionalisation of cronyism in the VIP lane. The Court found that the VIP lane, through which Ayanda and Pestfix, won their contracts, was illegal.

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.

Families across the country are struggling to make ends meet. Many workers have lost their jobs or been furloughed, earnings have been slashed, and the price of the weekly shop has gone up. The Office for National Statistics reports that 2.6 million households are struggling to cover expenses such as energy and food, and we know that hundreds of thousands of children have had to skip meals during the coronavirus lockdown.

Frontline NHS staff and care workers are putting their lives at risk because of the Government’s failure to provide adequate PPE. Doctors are having to wear visors made by teenagers on 3D printers. Care workers are being told to share the same mask. A number of the protective gowns that the Government flew in from Turkey have been deemed unsafe for use and are now sat in a warehouse gathering dust.

Every child has the right to a suitable education: that is what the Education Act says. But the Government’s plan to continue education online during the coronavirus lockdown risks leaving a million children behind.