On 21 July 2025 the High Court (Lang J) handed down judgment in D1914 and AAA v Secretary of State for the Home Department, in which the Claimants sought to challenge the government’s response to the report of the Brook House Inquiry (“BHI”). Lang J dismissed the claim.
By ground 3B, D1914 submitted that he had a legitimate expectation that the Defendant “would take steps to ensure that the mistreatment identified in the BHI report would not [recur] in the future”. The Claimant sought to rely on a statement in Parliament by the then Secretary of State to found this legitimate expectation.
In Annex 1 of its judgment, the Court held that Ministerial Statements cannot be relied on to found a legitimate expectation claim where there is a dispute as to whether a statement is clear or unambiguous. To do so risks a breach of Article IX of the Bill of Rights. In so holding, Lang J declined to follow the approach previously taken in R (Donald) v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2024] EWHC 1492 (Admin).
Sarah Hannett KC and Katy Sheridan acted for the Speaker of the House of Commons, instructed by the Office of Speaker’s Counsel.