CFI Parliamentary Chairmen Rt. Hon.
and Rt. Hon. The , together with CFI Honorary
President CBE, have underlined the
importance of forthcoming legislation to ban public bodies from
imposing boycotts in light of a Supreme Court ruling against the
Government this week.
Rt. Hon. ,
Rt. Hon. The and CBE said in a statement:
“The Supreme Court’s technical ruling on local authority
divestments serves to reinforce the importance of the
Government’s forthcoming legislation. 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”.
The Supreme Court ruled that previous guidance on this
issue exceeded the Secretary of State’s powers. In response, a
Government spokesperson said: “We are committed to ensuring
public bodies take a consistent approach to investments and to
stop local boycotts. We will therefore bring back new legislation
that addresses the technical points raised by the Supreme
Court”.
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”.
Prime Minister underlined in the Queen’s
Speech debate following the election: “We will stop public bodies
from taking it upon themselves to boycott goods from other
countries to develop their own pseudo foreign policies against
countries which with nauseating frequency turns out to be
Israel”.
The commitment was confirmed in a
subsequent statement detailing the Government’s pledge to
“prevent public institutions from creating independent sanctions
and boycotts against foreign countries or those linked to them;
the sale of goods and services from foreign countries; UK firms
which trade with such countries”.
