Bijan Hoshi of the Garden Court Chambers Public Law Team acted for the first intervener, Public Law Project, led by Tom De La Mare KC of Blackstone Chambers, instructed by Herbert Smith Freehills LLP.
The Court of Appeal has upheld the High Court’s decision of May 2024, in which it ruled that the Government acted unlawfully in making Regulations that made changes to sections 12 and 14 of the Public Order Act 1986 to give police broad powers to restrict protests.
Following a landmark legal challenge by Liberty, the High Court ordered the Regulations to be quashed. Read our previous news item here: ‘High Court finds government anti-protest legislation unlawful after legal challenge’.
In its judgment handed down today, the Court of Appeal upheld the High Court’s decision on the basis that the Regulations were ultra vires. Read the full judgment here: R (The National Council for Civil Liberties, R (on the application of) v The Secretary of State for the Home Department [2025] EWCA Civ 571.
Public Law Project (PLP) acted as an intervener in both the High Court and Court of Appeal.Read PLP’s full press release here: ‘Court of Appeal dismisses Government’s appeal over anti-protest laws’.
