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Public Law analysis: The claimant had sought permission to appeal against a First-tier Tribunal (FTT) decision refusing her claim for leave to remain in the UK. She maintained that the FTT had wrongly recorded her oral evidence. Both the FTT and Upper Tribunal (UT) refused her permission to appeal after having checked the recording of her evidence. She was granted permission to claim judicial review of the UT’s refusal on the basis that the claim raised important points of practice. However, the parties and the court had overlooked section 11A of the Tribunals, Courts and Enforcement Act 2007 (TCEA 2007). TCEA 2007, s 11A had been inserted by section 2 of the Judicial Review and Courts Act 2022. It came into force on 14 July 2022. TCEA 2007, s 11A ousts the supervisory jurisdiction of the High Court in judicial review proceedings, subject to a number of specific exceptions. It provides that a decision of the UT to refuse permission to appeal further is, subject to exceptions, final and not liable to be questioned or set aside in any other court. It thereby reversed the Supreme Court’s decision in Cart v Upper Tribunal. Rather than proceed to a full substantive hearing, a preliminary issue trial was conducted to determine whether the court had jurisdiction to determine the claim. Mr Justice Saini rejected the claimant’s attempts to argue that the TCEA 2007, s 11A ouster was somehow ineffective. He also carefully construed the ‘jurisdictional gateways’ in TCEA 2007, s 11A(4), being four circumstances in which such a claim for judicial review could proceed, finding that the claimant had not established the ‘a fundamental breach of the principles of natural justice’ gateway. Written by Jonathan Lewis, counsel at Monckton Chambers.
The full article, written by Jonathan Lewis, was first published by Lexis®PSL on 20 April 2023 and can be read here.