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Response to Supreme Court judgement of 29 April 2020


The Palestine Solidarity Campaign and another had brought an action against the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government over the Government's guidance that the Local Government Pension Scheme in England and Wales should not pursue boycott and divestment policies against foreign countries contrary to the UK's foreign policy.

The BDS movement has been branded as 'antisemitic' by the parliaments of Germany and Austria.

The Supreme court ruled in a split judgement (3-2) that the Secretary of State had exceeded his powers. We consider that this judgement is of very little consequence regarding Israel and the future of the BDS movement in the UK. It was a case to do with dry legal procedure and whether the Government had acted ultra vires in a particular matter. Furthermore, it applies only to England and Wales and our focus is mainly on Scotland. It does not preclude the Westminster Parliament passing legislation to give the UK Government the power that it seeks. 

Of much more importance, is that the current Government made a manifesto commitment to "ban public bodies from imposing their own direct or indirect boycotts, disinvestment or sanctions campaigns against foreign countries. These undermine community cohesion." (Conservative Party Manifesto 2019, p.20). This commitment was reaffirmed in the Queen's Speech on 19 December last year.

The priority now must be to ensure both that the Government sticks to its commitment and also that, as a foreign policy matter, the ban applies uniformly across the UK.



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