People & Planet suit against Treasury gets its day in court

A campaign which began as a student movement at the University of Edinburgh has won the right to pursue HM Treasury through the courts, in an effort to prove that the government have breached guidelines on the spending of public money.

In the first case of its kind, the government stands accused of breaking its promise to combat climate change and human rights violations as result of bailing out the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS), which has financed a host of non-renewable energy companies since the financial rescue package.

Former Edinburgh University Students' Union (EUSA) president Adam Ramsay, who is now working for People & Planet on the campaign, told The Journal: "This is a really exciting campaign to be involved in.

"If we win, we could switch billions of pounds of investments out of damaging fossil fuels and into funding the low carbon economy we all need.

"This campaign started at Edinburgh, with students voting to support it at the Annual General Meeting two years ago, and the student council refusing to allow RBS to advertise on campus until they clean up their act. Now it's going to the high courts, and could re-shape bailed out banks around the world."

Rosa Curling, a solicitor, explained the grounds for the complaint in a statement: “The refusal of the Treasury to even consider whether an investment could contribute to climate change or result in human rights abuses is clearly unlawful and completely out of line with the government's own guidance, policies and targets on these issues.”

The group of non-profit bodies comprising People & Planet, World Development Movement and Platform, secured a half-day hearing after writing a letter outlining their arguments with supporting evidence.

A half day is a considerable length of time for this type of legal action, as most cases are afforded less than 30 minutes - a decision that is being seen as a stamp of legitimacy by the campaigners.

The Treasury will be represented by their First Treasury Counsel, James Eadie QC after Judge Hickenbottom ruled that they have "questions to answer".

RBS's investments include Tullow Oil, a company participating in the exploration and extraction of oil on the Uganda-Democractic Republic of Congo border. An area which has suffered from unrelenting civil war fought over natural resources.

A statement from People & Planet, the UK's biggest student network, said that they hoped their “'David v. Goliath' case could shift the bailed-out banks' investment into a programme of 'green jobs', building a low carbon economy."

Guy Mitchell, a Leeds University student and People & Planet Campaign Advocate said: “By failing to clean up RBS's dirty investments, they [the Treasury] are missing a massive opportunity to provide investment in the clean green technologies of the future and generating millions of jobs for my generation. We think this is morally unacceptable and our lawyers think it is unlawful.”

The hearing will take place on 20 October during which the plaintiffs will argue for a full judicial review of Treasury spending.