BN66 - the road to Judicial Review

[DonkeyRhubarb]

If you end up doing one of your well writted letters ill send it to Ed Davey

I'll keep that in mind but at the moment I think we've got the bases well covered. It's now just a case of waiting to see what Timms and his officials come up with as a response.

I'd love to be a fly on the wall in the higher echelons of HMRC & Treasury over the coming days.

It would be nice to think that someone might see sense but that's probably too much to expect. Governments are even more stubborn than donkeys when it comes to doing u-turns!

[Richard Splash]

Some weeks ago I was asking about Closure Notice and the fact that I had yet to receive one. I was guided to the HMRC FOI page which I duly completed. The good news is that HMRC actually replied without a threatening letter as their opening gambit. However, despite the 36 pages supplied the revealed nothing beyond the normal or ordinary. How can I find out if they have served me a closure notice which I have not received or should I just sit tight and not rouse the docile, money grabbing beast?

Any help or assistance would be warmly received...

<admin note>I have enabled PM use on this account in case needed</admin note>

[funjim]

belated well done

couldn't get on here earlier... but must say well done DR..


remind me never to cross you ... good effort!!!

[silver_lining]

Well done DR and many thanks for your tireless efforts. You cannot keep this up as there is only so many bottles of champagne I am willing to commit too

Some thoughts....

Not sure on exactly what this means in terms of HMRC/ Treasury legal responsibilities in terms of their responses. Or put another way what power/ sway does JCHR have..... can they actually force change or simply apply pressure.....

For example if the Treasury and HMRC by chance don't happen to have solid evidence to support the questions, what then? what can JCHR actually do apart from shout about it ?

[poppy01]

I'll keep that in mind but at the moment I think we've got the bases well covered. It's now just a case of waiting to see what Timms and his officials come up with as a response.

I'd love to be a fly on the wall in the higher echelons of HMRC & Treasury over the coming days.

It would be nice to think that someone might see sense but that's probably too much to expect. Governments are even more stubborn than donkeys when it comes to doing u-turns!

where are we going to have the piss up

[BrilloPad]

where are we going to have the piss up

when we win. 2012?

[DonkeyRhubarb]

Not sure on exactly what this means in terms of HMRC/ Treasury legal responsibilities in terms of their responses. Or put another way what power/ sway does JCHR have..... can they actually force change or simply apply pressure.....

For example if the Treasury and HMRC by chance don't happen to have solid evidence to support the questions, what then? what can JCHR actually do apart from shout about it ?

Good questions and I don't know the answers.

However, this Committee carries a lot of authority. It is not made up of any old MPs and Lords. Take for example Lord Lester of Herne Hill:

http://business.timesonline.co.uk/to...cle3758784.ece

The Government would be foolish to disregard their recommendations, especially when HMRC will be using public money to defend the JR.

[swede]

Ditto

Great work DR.

Brought a tear to my eye the responses people have submitted, and am thankful for this forum and the people who have made contributions above the call of duty - I salute you in our battle together.

Seriously this forum really does put you through the emotional ringer! The fact that knowing you're not the only one in the same boat, really really does help. I would certainly have gone crackers/bankrupt a long time before now if I had just accepted what was in that Big Brown Envelope.

That is huge, fantastic news though and well done again to DR and Everyone.

[DonkeyRhubarb]

Retrospective migrant worker legislation

In an earlier post, SliverLining posed the question as to what would happen if the JCHR recommended that the legislation is overturned ie. does the Government have to take any notice?

I think this gives us a clue:
http://www.aippg.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=82469

Joint Parliamentary Committee on Human Rights as well as Commission for Race Equality had looked into the issue and submitted to the government that the changes were unfair and unlawful. However, the immigration department was obsessed with defending their decision and were not open to any reasoning. We had no other recourse but to approach the judiciary and we are glad that our trust in the Democratic System has finally been restored.

We can expect the Treasury to be equally intransigent.

[ASB]

This is better than we could have ever hoped for. There is no other word for it than damning.

JCHR Twentieth Report
Apart from section 58, it also covers Clause 67 of this year's finance bill, which they have judged not to be in breach of the human rights act.
http://www.publications.parliament.u.../133/13302.htm

Section 58 Finance Act 2008
The Committee's review of the legislation.
http://www.publications.parliament.u...3/13304.htm#a5

Letter from JCHR to Stephen Timms
Sent Tuesday 7th July.
http://www.publications.parliament.u...3/13308.htm#a6

Chip. chip, chip.

So, the JCHR accept there is at least an arguable breach and have placed that in the public domain. Extremely stong stuff indeed for a number of reasons. With your efforts this has been gathering momentum for quite some time. It's now moving along quite nicely indeed.

I recall you were going to pick up the bar tab in due course. Could be a good time to start saving.