Manifesto Promises Aren't Promises

Well, they're not promises that lead to legitimate expectations, at least.

I'm wondering whether this is going to be all over the newspapers tomorrow in the same way that it's all over the blogs this afternoon. The lovely Trixy (the qualifier has become part of her online handle, I think in recognition of her proving that UKIP does indeed contain totty) is at a case today where Gordon Brown is being sued for breach of contract. Over the manifesto promise to have a referendum on the EU Constitution Reform Treaty.

In the court case brought against him for breach of contract over a referendum on the EU Constitution, Brown's personal barrister has just told the court that "manifesto pledges are not subject to legitimate expectation".

Oh yes, Gordon Brown, the Prime Minister, has just told an open court that we shouldn't expect him to be telling the truth with his promises, and that no manifesto pledge can be considered to be binding in anyway.

Iain Dale, Guido, Dizzy, all are remarking upon it. It is a bit of a gobsmacking statement really, isn't it?

Unfortunately, as Mr. Eugenides points out, it's also a true one.

Now, the doctrine of "legitimate expectation" has a very precise meaning in administrative law, the details of which are - due to my alma mater's crazy 10am scheduling of Public Law lectures - slightly hazy in my recollection. Suffice it to say that there are strict tests to establish when a public body's promise to act in a particular way can be said to give rise to a legitimate expectation, and even then the plaintiff would have to demonstrate that the body's U-turn was "unfair" (again, in the strict legal sense of being improperly arrived at or irrational). (If anyone was actually able to stay awake through such lectures, perhaps they might enlighten us in the comments.)

Brown's barrister is therefore, almost certainly, correct in law to say that 'mere' manifesto commitments cannot be considered to set up a legitimate expectation as to future conduct.

Yes, they can tell us anything they want at election time and they don't have to do a damn thing they say they will.

How do you like them apples?