In this week's issue, the team examines the Supreme Court’s rejection of Cheshire West’s bright-line ‘acid test’ for deprivation of liberty. The court favoured a multifactorial approach, while warning that consent should not be inferred where doubt exists.
In Ammori, the Court of Appeal upheld the proscription of Palestine Action and emphasised the latitude owed to accountable decision-makers: policies are ‘guides, not rules or statutes’.
Other decisions leave uncertainty over when anxious scrutiny applies and whether ‘conspicuous unfairness’ creates a free-standing duty to consult.
Meanwhile, Weis, the first Court of Appeal ruling under the post-Brexit subsidy control regime, confirms that the Competition Appeal Tribunal decides for itself whether a subsidy exists before reviewing its legality. Public authorities retain broad discretion, but procedural flaws show their decisions remain open to judicial scrutiny.
