British government strikes another blow against its citizens

Daily Mail, UK - Charities and ‘professional’ campaign groups will no longer be allowed to use the courts to delay major house-building projects or government cuts to benefits, under plans unveiled today.

Justice Secretary Chris Grayling wants to stop activists mounting ‘spurious legal challenges’ he says serve only to generate ‘media coverage for their cause’.

They will be banned from bringing judicial reviews – in which a court rules on whether the government is acting lawfully – which can delay developments and policies by years.

And local councils will no longer be able to judicially review decisions about major infrastructure projects taking place in their backyard.

The proposals follow a speech that Prime Minister David Cameron made to business leaders last year in which he promised to ‘get a grip’ on ‘time wasting’ legal challenges to help boost economic recovery.

But they are likely to spark furious protests about the public being denied a say.

Applications for judicial review have risen from 4,500 in 1998 to 12,400 in 2012, and often take more than a year to resolve.

In a consultation launched today, Mr Grayling is also proposing making people who bring spurious cases pay some of the other side’s legal bill.

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