The High Court ruled that the secretary of state, Matt Hancock, acted unlawfully in “failing to comply with the Transparency Policy” (The High Court).
The Good Law Project, along with MPs Debbie Abrahams, Caroline Lucas and Layla Moran won the judicial review concerning The Department of Health and Social Care’s lack of disclosure of legal contracts that they had concerning public goods and services. Deals worth more than £120,000 are meant to be published as a Contract Award Notice within 30 days.
As the Good Law Project outlines on their website, the issue with not publishing Contract Award Notices is that the public is unable to scrutinise the government and subsequently hold them to account. This leads to greater distrust of politicians amongst the public as deals are not out in the open. Additionally, it gives ministers and the government power to make deals behind the public’s back with public funding.
Shadow Cabinet Office minister Rachel Reeves commented on the “cronyism” of the government and the much needed publication of “all outstanding contracts”.
The case will hopefully allow this Government to see that dishonesty will have consequences. However, with Boris Johnson still at the helm, it is unclear if this is just a breach or a larger issue within the executive.
Written by Anna Male
Artwork by Delicia
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