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R v Secretary of State for the Environment, ex p Hammermsith and Fulham London Borough Council, 1991, 1991 1 AC 521

R v Secretary of State for the Environment, ex p Hammermsith and Fulham London Borough Council, 1991, 1991 1 AC 521


Citation:R v Secretary of State for the Environment, ex p Hammermsith and Fulham London Borough Council, 1991, 1991 1 AC 521

Link to case on WorldLII.

Rule of thumb:Once a Government has given a department funding, do they have a right to call this funding back? Yes, this falls under the prerogative and there is nothing to say that they cannot, so they can recall funds if they so wish.

Background facts:

The facts of this case were that the Hammersmith Council was having an excellent year financially in terms of the money this local authority was bringing in through Council Tax and other local authority fees in addition to the money provided to them by central Government. The central Government therefore decided to call back some of the funds they had given to this local authority to carry out all their public services. Hammersmith Council argued that they did not have the right to do this under s100 of the Local Government Finance Act giving the Government the power to cap the funding of local authorities.

Judgment:

The Court affirmed that there was no statutory provision preventing the Government for doing this, meaning that under Prerogative the Executive Ministers can do anything they want provided that it is not a human rights violation, and moreover, s100 of the Act even gave the Executive Minsters the express power to cap the money local authorities have as a preventative measure to disincentivise local authorities from being greedy in their Council charges.

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Ratio-decidendi:

‘Parliament has a limitless right to alter or add to the law by means of primary legislation, enacted by the full constitutional process of debate and decision in both Houses on first and second readings of the Bill, committee and report stages and third readings, followed by Royal Assent’, Lord Donaldson at 562

Warning: This is not professional legal advice. This is not professional legal education advice. Please obtain professional guidance before embarking on any legal course of action. This is just an interpretation of a Judgment by persons of legal insight & varying levels of legal specialism, experience & expertise. Please read the Judgment yourself and form your own interpretation of it with professional assistance.