RISHI SUNAK, CHANCELLOR OF THE EXCHEQUER

Abuse of power and of the process of law on an industrial scale

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The self-employed income support scheme discriminates against claimants on the ground of age.

The 50% exclusion clause (the “RTI criterion”) excludes claimants who are (a) low-earning and (b) in receipt of the state pension; even though they meet all the criteria for eligibility witin the “legitimate aim” of the SEISS scheme.

The exclusion is a mathematical certainty.

Claimants excluded in this way are more likely to be from black and minority ethnic communities, and are more likely to be women.

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Believe it or not, the first line of defence of the Chancellor Rishi Sunak is that in signing an administrative order directing HMRC to implement the scheme he exempted himself from the provisions of the Equality Act 2010 requiring the elimination of discrimination.  At the same time he claims that he did comply with the Equality Act.  This is a (billionaire) minister with one eye on the top job!

The Chancellor’s legal advisers are, arrogantly and stupidly, leading him down a blind alley from which there will be no escape from the public furore that is to come.

The power of a government minister to exempt himself from his statutory obligations might exist in other jurisdictions (the ones where you lock up, poison, or just shoot those who stand up to you) but it does not exist in this jurisdiction, and the Chancellor of the Exchequer stands charged with abuse of the process of law, and of abuse of power on an industrial scale, with (probably) hundreds of thousands of victims of his failure to meet his statutory obligations under the Equality Act (the “public sector equality duty”).

An application for judicial review has been blocked by the Administrative Court, the judges approving two contradictory defences at the same time. 

The case has now been referred to the Court of Appeal where we should be confident that the matter will be correctly decided, knowing that the Courts are bound to “do right to all manner of people after the laws and usages of this Realm without fear or favour affection or ill will”.

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Following the conclusion of proceedings ALL papers in the case including all correspondence will be published on this website.

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