Thread by @GoodLawProject

BREAKING: WE’VE WON - High Court rules Government acted unlawfully by failing to publish details of Covid-related contracts.

@Debbie_abrahams @CarolineLucas @LaylaMoran rebrand.ly/uc-win-1902

THREAD:

The High Court has ruled that Government has acted unlawfully by failing to disclose details of Covid-related contracts, in breach of the Public Contracts Regulations 2015 and its own guidance.

You can read the judgment in full here: rebrand.ly/uc-judgment

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

The Judge went on to say:

“The obligations imposed by reg. 50 (in the Public Contracts Regulations 2015) and by the Transparency Policy and Principles serve a vital public function and that function was no less important during a pandemic. (para 140)

“The Secretary of State spent vast quantities of public money on pandemic-related procurements during 2020. The public were entitled to see who this money was going to, what it was being spent on and how the relevant contracts were awarded.” (para 140)

The public "were entitled to see who this money was going to, what it was being spent on and how the relevant contracts were awarded."

This was important: “so that oversight bodies such as the NAO, as well as Parliament and the public, could scrutinise and ask questions"

The Judge was also clear our judicial review resulted in the admission of breach by Government, stating it was “secured as a result of this litigation and at a late stage of it” see para 154 in the Judgment: drive.google.com/file/d/19QsmLv…

The Judge also said our Judicial Review sped up the Government’s publishing of contracts: “I have no doubt that this claim has speeded up compliance.” (para 149) drive.google.com/file/d/19QsmLv…

The declaration from the High Court is hugely significant - if Government continues to fail to publish contract award notices within 30 days it is doing so in full knowledge it is breaching the law, and hindering scrutiny.

The Judge concluded: "if the publication had been on time…the First Claimant would have been able to scrutinise CANs and contract provisions, ask questions about them and raise any issues with oversight bodies such as the NAO or via MPs in Parliament" para 158

The judgment has significant implications for the series of further public interest challenges brought by Good Law Project around the Government’s procurement failures.

Importantly, the High Court ruled that we had “standing” to bring the challenge.

We have now written @MattHancock urging him to publish outstanding contracts; come clean about who went through the ‘VIP lane’; to recover money from those who failed to deliver non-compliant product and to undertake a public inquiry into PPE. drive.google.com/file/d/1zihISY…