MORE than 500 people have donated to a crowdfunding campaign to raise money for a potential legal challenge to Theresa May’s parliamentary deal with the DUP, on the grounds that it breaches the Good Friday agreement.
By yesterday afternoon £12,447 had been donated by 531 people towards an initial £20,000 target to help Ciaran McClean, a Green politician in Northern Ireland, launch the case.
Lawyers for McClean allege that the pact between the minority Conservative government and the DUP is in breach of both the landmark 1998 Northern Ireland peace deal and the Bribery Act.
The confidence and supply arrangement, signed in Downing Street on June 26, granted £1 billion more funding for hospitals, schools and roads in Northern Ireland in return for DUP support in key Commons votes.
Nicola Sturgeon characterised it as a “grubby, shameless” deal, while Carwyn Jones, the first minister of Wales, described the cash as a “straight bung to keep a weak Prime Minister and a faltering government in office”.
Both leaders have said as the extra money for Northern Ireland was not given via the Barnett formula, through which the funding of the devolved nations is distributed, Scotland and Wales missed out on substantial additional funding.
McClean is represented by Dominic Chambers QC of Edwin Coe LLP. Chambers was involved in the successful Supreme Court challenge to the government’s attempts to trigger Article 50 without a Commons vote.
The legal team aim to issue high court proceedings this week and will push for the case to be heard as early as possible.
McClean said on the action’s CrowdJustice webpage: “My claim is that as a citizen I expect my government to honour its obligations under the Good Friday agreement and not to bribe others with money so that it can stay in power.
“My lawyers have put these points to the government. They eventually responded, failing to meet deadlines they set themselves.
“Nothing they said addresses the fundamental issues behind this corrupt deal.”
The letter from Edwin Coe argues that any agreement between the DUP and the Conservatives would compromise the government’s independence and breach the reasonable expectation of the citizens of Northern Ireland, including McClean, that the government will act with rigorous impartiality.
The Scottish Greens have appealed to Scots to donate to the crowdfunding effort.
The £20,000 initial funding would help cover early legal fees but more money would be needed if the case progresses to a full hearing in the high court.
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