Court to decide whether Tories’ £1 billion deal with DUP was bribery
Theresa May (left) with Arlene Foster, the leader of the DUP, in London in June [Image: Carl Court/Getty Images].
This Writer hopes Labour Party lawyers are paying close attention because any future Labour government may be asked to legislate against the possibility of a corrupt deal of this kind taking place again.
(It may also have to find a way to pre-empt attempts by minority governments to corruptly gain majorities on public bill committees, for that matter.)
The court’s decision will carry huge weight, as it could strip the minority Tory government of even the tenuous majority it has at the moment – making it impossible for it to push through its right-wing legislative programme and making a new general election more likely.
Mr McLean’s words, that the agreement was “no more and no less than the purchase by the government of votes in parliament using public money”, seem persuasive to This Writer.
Let us hope the judges hear them the same way.
Theresa May’s parliamentary deal with the Democratic Unionist party will face a judicial challenge in the divisional court in London within the next few weeks.
The crowdfunded legal challenge brought by Ciaran McClean, a Green party activist in Northern Ireland, is likely to be heard by several senior judges.
The high court notified both sides’ legal teams on Friday that because of the urgency of the claim it should be heard in October at the beginning of the new legal term. It is likely to begin on 26 October.
McClean, the son of one of the founders of Northern Ireland’s civil rights movement, Paddy Joe McClean, is spearheading the challenge to the arrangement through which the DUP gained a £1bn aid package for the region.
The basis of the claim is that any political agreement between the government and the DUP is in breach of the Good Friday agreement under which the government undertook to exercise its power in Northern Ireland “with rigorous impartiality on behalf of all the people in the diversity of their identities and traditions”.
The legal challenge also argues that the political deal breaches the Bribery Act 2010 and is in any event unlawful as a corrupt arrangement.
Source: Court to hear challenge to Theresa May’s £1bn deal with DUP | Politics | The Guardian
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I fully expect the Establishment to look after its own, but at least it keeps the whole stinking, corrupt deal in the public eye.
It seems the courts may not find any statutory instrument that allows the use off public money to fund such activities. If this is so, only a ruling of misfeasance can prevail, and no future preventative legislation will be required. T May has willingly miscalculated the provenance of democracy and attempted to renegotiate it’s terms without the will of the people or parliament, one off her many grave and calculated errors.
A correct result would be to admonish all Tory acts from the point of illegal conduct. This would of course mean Brexit agreements had no substance in law. The only defense is one off extraordinary national emergency measures. The Emergency Powers Act 1964 provides for such, but requires the Queen’s assent. I doubt the Queen gave such during Mays discussions to form a government.
No, Brexit pre-dates the DUP deal. Only decisions taken post-deal would be questionable.
This is all great. BUT, even though – particularly since the election and the Grenfell fire and the EU decision on Human Rights and the illegal use of of call centre and electioneering funds – and on and on and on – the courts have seemingly made appropriate judgements…and NOTHING HAS BEEN DONE. What’s the point? Now this loathsome crew are trying, intentionally, in full view, to undemocratise democracy!! So many of these odious jokers should be languishing in jail. Soon, it seems, there will be no way the law can contain them. If the DUP does get kicked out (some hope!) there’s surely a looming majority that would IMPEACH the shameless nincompoop in shining armour given half a chance.
EU decision on human rights? When was that?
I think you mean the UN decision, which the UK could ignore if it wanted, although the disapproval of the world came with it.
No court decision has been made on illegal use of call centres.
Where the courts have found against the Tories, they have had to make changes.
If this court finds against them, then their deal with the DUP will be illegal and will not be legally allowed to continue.
It will be one looked! Just like former cabinet ministers ( of any party! ) taking a highly payed job from a company they had previously awarded huge government contacts to! What do you believe mike?
As much as i agree with the blog,our judiciary is such that it will argue that they have a duty to the crown.That`s why i feel that the crown will prevail.The unionist leader did say after this “deal that he can produce letters from Gordon Brown showing how he also tried to do a “deal” when he sought re-election after taking over from Blair back in 2010 i think.The point i`m making is that Labour would no doubt do the same if the shoe was on the other foot,even though the country would be a lot better with a Labour administration.
A Tory government is not the Crown.
I think the crown will do nothing but to kowtow to the Tories will, they always do, and anyway a lot of people will vote tory no matter what they are doing to destroy the country, if they aren’t affected then what do they care??!! tories in power seems to be a forgone conclusion majority or not!!!
Theresa May is acting as if she is Queen.
Maybe not but it has the Crown’s ceremonial authority to form a government
With the Hoorays latest cunning plan to weight key parliamentary committees etc to their paid for numerical advantage I believe this adds extra weight to the cry of bribery and corruption. It is going to be a very bent judicial system that cannot see the merits of this argument and get it kicked out
Umm they gave not just 1 billion but a billion and a half
The judges are all freemasons so they won’t do anything about this corrupt government’s dodgy deal with the DUP. A waste of time.