Minister 'abused power' in axeing school building work

Published on Friday 11 February 2011 17:50

The UK government has suffered an embarrassing rebuke over plans to axe a major school-building project, after a High Court judge branded the move an "abuse of power".

The judgment was a personal setback for Education Ssecretary Michael Gove, who has been ordered to reconsider his decision to scrap the 55 billion Building Schools for the Future (BSF) scheme in six local authorities.

Mr Justice Holman ruled yesterday that the Scots-born minister had unlawfully failed to consult them before imposing the cuts on councils across England.

In five of the cases, the failure was "so unfair as to amount to an abuse of power", the judge said.

It is unlikely that other local authorities affected by the BSF cuts will be now able to seek a similar review, after Mr Justice Holman said it was "far too late" for them to apply.

But the decision could leave the door open for those affected by other central or local government spending cuts to apply for a judicial review because they believe they have not been consulted.

Opposition parties said the decision called Mr Gove's "competency" into question and demanded an inquiry.

Edinburgh-born Mr Gove, a former pupil at Robert Gordon's College in Aberdeen, was ordered to pay the costs for each of the six local councils and, according to unofficial estimates, this could be up to 1 million.

He will now look again at the decision, but the Department for Education said yesterday the final decision would be his and insisted it had won the case on "substantive points".

Shadow education secretary Andy Burnham said: "We urgently need an independent inquiry into Michael Gove's handling of this whole sorry saga.

"The communities most affected by these decisions deserve nothing less. All relevant paperwork should be disclosed, so that people can see what advice was given by civil servants and how these decisions were taken."

More than 700 building projects in England were cancelled as a result of the decision last July, provoking uproar from councils, unions and Labour politicians, who warned of a catastrophic effect on pupils.

The six councils involved - Waltham Forest, Luton Borough, Nottingham City, Sandwell, Kent County and Newham - were celebrating their victory yesterday.

The leader of Sandwell Council, Darren Cooper, said: "At the very least, we have been vindicated for bringing the action.Now we have to wait to see whether the government accepts it was too hasty in scrapping the scheme."

Waltham Forest Council leader Chris Robbins said the decision was "a victory for common sense and fair play".

Handing down his judgment, Mr Justice Holman said: "However pressing the economic problems, there was no overriding public interest which precluded consultation or justifies the lack of any consultation."

Mr Gove's decision-making process was also unlawful "because of his failure to discharge relevant statutory equality duties under the Sex Discrimination Act, Race Relations Act and Disability Discrimination Act".

The judge rejected charges that Mr Gove had acted irrationally, but said he failed to consult about the impact of his decision.

"He unlawfully failed to give due regard to the equality impacts of his proposed decision," the judge added.