8 August 2024
The politics of public inquiries
Statutory public inquiries have strong legal powers to compel witnesses to participate. How these are exercised depends on the circumstances and reflects the reality that public inquiries are part of the political process rather than the legal process, or a hybrid of the two.
16 July 2024
The energy transition - Labour unpick the past and outline their policy vision
Labour have hit the ground running on energy policy issues with several significant announcements in the days after coming into power. Ahead of the Kings Speech tomorrow (17 July), we look at the key developments in the last two weeks and what we might see going forward.
16 July 2024
(Another) legal duty of candour on public servants and authorities?
Labour’s manifesto promises a ‘Hillsborough Law’ which will place a legal duty of candour on public servants and authorities. But what are the implications?
24 June 2024
Supreme Court clarifies the law on 'downstream' emissions and Environmental Impact Assessments
A year on from hearing a ground-breaking challenge concerning the duty on planning authorities to consider “downstream” emissions when deciding planning applications, the Supreme Court handed down its judgment in R(Finch) v Surrey County Council and ors [2024] UKSC 20 on Thursday morning (20 June 2024).
3 June 2024
Identity matters
In his leading judgment in Secretary of State for the Home Department and another v R (on the application of IAB & others) [2024] EWCA Civ 66, [2024]All ER (D) 128 (Mar), Lord Justice Bean
branded the government’s routine practice of redacting civil servants’ names from documents for disclosure in judicial review proceedings ‘inimical to open government and unsupported by authority’.