The Supreme Court’s "narrow" technical ruling against the government over local authority divestments will not prevent forthcoming legislation to ban public bodies from imposing boycotts, the Conservative Friends of Israel group has said.
In a joint response to last week’s ruling that former Communities Secretary Said Javid had gone too far in telling local councils that they could not choose to shun certain countries when investing pension funds, CFI’s chair Stephen Crabb MP, Lord Pickles and Honorary President Lord Polak said the judge’s decision "serves to reinforce the importance of the government’s forthcoming legislation."
The trio added: "We reiterate our strong support for the Conservative government’s manifesto commitment to ban public bodies from imposing their own boycotts, divestments, and sanctions, which have all too often sown discord within local communities”.
Meanwhile a government spokesperson underlined the continued support for legislation – a commitment that was confirmed by Boris Johnson in the Queen’s Speech debate following the December general election. “We are committed to ensuring public bodies take a consistent approach to investments and to stop local boycotts," a spokesperson said this week. "We will therefore bring back new legislation that addresses the technical points raised by the Supreme Court."
A legal expert told the JC that last week’s ruling was "a narrow one" which applies in relation to a specific law, rather than making any general points about the Boycott Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) campaign.
They added that nothing in the judgement prevents parliament from passing new legislation.
The Conservative Party manifesto included a commitment to “ban public bodies from imposing their own direct or indirect boycotts, disinvestment or sanctions campaigns against foreign countries”, which “undermine community cohesion”.
The then Communities Secretary Mr Javid’s guidance issued four years ago was first ruled unlawful after the Palestine Solidarity Campaign brought a case to the High Court in 2017 but the government won an appeal last year.
Last week, the PSC successfully challenged this ruling with the Supreme Court ruling 3 to 2 in its favour.
Lord Wilson, delivering the main judgment, said there had been a “misconception on the part of the Secretary of State which probably emboldened him to exceed his powers”.
The PSC’s appeal to the Supreme Court was supported by the Quakers and the Campaign Against Arms Trade.
