Conservative MP Helps Coal Mining Firm Sue UK Government in Secretive 'Corporate Court'
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Keir Starmer's Government is being sued in a 'corporate court' by a Singapore based investor in the now-abandoned Cumbria coal mine.
The Singaporean firm, Woodhouse Investment Pte Ltd, whose parent company is domiciled in the Cayman Islands, is suing the British Government alongside the British firm West Cumbria Mining (WCM) and is being represented by former Attorney General and current Conservative MP, Geoffrey Cox, and the law firm Withers.
WCM withdrew its application for planning permission for the mine in April this year, though is now suing the UK Government using a controversial Investor State Dispute Settlement (ISDS) mechanism dubbed a "corporate court" by campaigners.
The ISDS mechanism in question is contained within the UK's bilateral investment treaty with Singapore which was signed in 1975.
Tom Wills, the Director of the Trade Justice Movement told Byline Times: "A fossil fuel company suing the UK Government over climate policies using an opaque system based on a decades-old agreement sounds like something from dystopian fiction. But it's happening right now, and this case shows us that successful climate action will only be possible if the UK rejects the ISDS system.
"To compensate polluters every time we try to protect the environment is unaffordable and obviously unjust. We need to hear that the UK is taking this threat seriously - refusing to sign up to new ISDS agreements and getting out of existing ones."
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The case is the first time the UK has been sued under ISDS since 2006, when an Indian investor failed to sue the Corporation of London. It is the first case to be filed against the UK Government because of climate policy.
However, according to ISDS Tracker, a database of investor-state dispute cases, fossil fuel companies are the biggest beneficiaries of the ISDS system, winning $80.21bn through ISDS claims since 1998.
ISDS cases are particularly controversial because they allow firms to "treaty shop" in which claimants pursue the lawsuit through third party states in order to achieve an advantageous outcome.
In 2023 the UN Special Rapporteur on human rights related to a safe, clean, healthy and sustainable environment, David Boyd, released a report which found that "Foreign investors have weaponized" the "secretive" ISDS system, which "violate[s]" the "the right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment". The report also branded the ISDS system "unjust, undemocratic and dysfunctional".
Campaign groups such as Global Justice Now have repeatedly warned that ISDS clauses written into trade or investment agreements are undemocratic and violate national sovereignty.
Cleodie Rickard, trade campaign manager at Global Justice Now said: "We've been calling on the Government to scrap ISDS in its trade deals for years, to stop exactly this eventuality: fossil fuel companies suing us over necessary climate action".
The proposals for the Whitehaven mine, the first deep coal mine in the UK in 30 years, were quashed last year when the High Court blocked the plans citing concerns around emissions targets.
The judge, Justice Holgate, agreed with Friends of the Earth that Michael Gove had unlawfully accepted West Cumbria Mining's claim that the mine would be net zero and would not affect the country's ability to meet the emissions cuts required under the Climate Change Act 2008.
The Labour Government withdrew support for the mine in the legal case in July last year, with lawyers acting on behalf of the Ministry of Housing Communities and Local Government calling the decision to approve planning permission for the mine an "error in law".
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Packed with exclusive investigations, analysis, and features
SUBSCRIBE TODAY
Keir Starmer's Government is being sued in a 'corporate court' by a Singapore based investor in the now-abandoned Cumbria coal mine.
The Singaporean firm, Woodhouse Investment Pte Ltd, whose parent company is domiciled in the Cayman Islands, is suing the British Government alongside the British firm West Cumbria Mining (WCM) and is being represented by former Attorney General and current Conservative MP, Geoffrey Cox, and the law firm Withers.
WCM withdrew its application for planning permission for the mine in April this year, though is now suing the UK Government using a controversial Investor State Dispute Settlement (ISDS) mechanism dubbed a "corporate court" by campaigners.
The ISDS mechanism in question is contained within the UK's bilateral investment treaty with Singapore which was signed in 1975.
Tom Wills, the Director of the Trade Justice Movement told Byline Times: "A fossil fuel company suing the UK Government over climate policies using an opaque system based on a decades-old agreement sounds like something from dystopian fiction. But it's happening right now, and this case shows us that successful climate action will only be possible if the UK rejects the ISDS system.
"To compensate polluters every time we try to protect the environment is unaffordable and obviously unjust. We need to hear that the UK is taking this threat seriously - refusing to sign up to new ISDS agreements and getting out of existing ones."
BREAKING
Corporations Could Sue the Government Under India Deal, Campaigners Warn
Campaigners warn that it risks creating a system of "corporate courts"
Olly Haynes
The case is the first time the UK has been sued under ISDS since 2006, when an Indian investor failed to sue the Corporation of London. It is the first case to be filed against the UK Government because of climate policy.
However, according to ISDS Tracker, a database of investor-state dispute cases, fossil fuel companies are the biggest beneficiaries of the ISDS system, winning $80.21bn through ISDS claims since 1998.
ISDS cases are particularly controversial because they allow firms to "treaty shop" in which claimants pursue the lawsuit through third party states in order to achieve an advantageous outcome.
In 2023 the UN Special Rapporteur on human rights related to a safe, clean, healthy and sustainable environment, David Boyd, released a report which found that "Foreign investors have weaponized" the "secretive" ISDS system, which "violate[s]" the "the right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment". The report also branded the ISDS system "unjust, undemocratic and dysfunctional".
Campaign groups such as Global Justice Now have repeatedly warned that ISDS clauses written into trade or investment agreements are undemocratic and violate national sovereignty.
Cleodie Rickard, trade campaign manager at Global Justice Now said: "We've been calling on the Government to scrap ISDS in its trade deals for years, to stop exactly this eventuality: fossil fuel companies suing us over necessary climate action".
The proposals for the Whitehaven mine, the first deep coal mine in the UK in 30 years, were quashed last year when the High Court blocked the plans citing concerns around emissions targets.
The judge, Justice Holgate, agreed with Friends of the Earth that Michael Gove had unlawfully accepted West Cumbria Mining's claim that the mine would be net zero and would not affect the country's ability to meet the emissions cuts required under the Climate Change Act 2008.
The Labour Government withdrew support for the mine in the legal case in July last year, with lawyers acting on behalf of the Ministry of Housing Communities and Local Government calling the decision to approve planning permission for the mine an "error in law".
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