Belfast-based rap trio Kneecap have won their legal battle with the UK government over the decision of former business secretary - and now leader of the Conservative Party - Kemi Badenoch to block the Music Export Growth Scheme grant they had been awarded because of the politics of their creative output.
Badenoch and the Conservative government she was part of “acted unlawfully, this is now a fact”, the group said on Friday. They “broke their own laws in trying to silence Kneecap”, they added, simply because they “didn’t like our art, in particular our beautiful 2019 tour poster of Boris Johnson on a rocket”.
The group’s lawyer, Darragh Mackin, also welcomed the outcome of the dispute while paying tribute to his clients. “Kneecap continue to lead by example in practising what they preach”, he told reporters. “Not only do they sing about cearta”, the Irish word for ‘rights’, “but today they have shown they will even hold the British government itself to account to protect them”.
The Music Export Growth Scheme, or MEGS, supports independent artists and labels looking to pursue opportunities in new markets. It is funded by the government’s Department For Business And Trade, but run by record industry trade group BPI, with a panel of industry experts deciding who to award grants to.
The government is generally very hands off with the scheme, but the Department For Business And Trade needs to rubber-stamp each grant. In February, it emerged that the department had blocked a decision by the MEGS panel to award the group a £14,250 grant.
It was an overtly political decision, with a spokesperson for Badenoch stating that her department did not want to hand taxpayers’ money “to people that oppose the United Kingdom itself”. That was a reference to Kneecap’s support for a united Ireland.
Badenoch’s intervention was criticised by a number of politicians, who said that the move was an attack on freedom of expression and likely violated the terms of the Good Friday Agreement.
Kneecap’s lawyers began legal proceedings almost immediately, with a judge clearing the way for a judicial review in June. That’s a type of court proceeding in which a judge reviews the lawfulness of a decision or action made by a government department or other public body.
A full hearing was scheduled for November. However, of course, in July the UK had a general election which delivered a new government. And, perhaps unsurprisingly, the new Labour government isn’t that keen on fighting a legal battle to defend a controversial decision made by a former Conservative minister. Not to mention a former Conservative minister who is now the leader of the Conservative Party.
With that in mind, a court in Belfast was told on Friday that the Department For Business And Trade is no longer contesting this case because it agrees that Badenoch’s decision about Kneecap’s MEGS grant was “unlawful and procedurally unfair”.
It added: “This government’s priority is to try and reduce costs and help protect the taxpayer from further expense, so we will not continue to contest Kneecap’s challenge as we do not believe it is in the public interest”.
As a result, the government will pay Kneecap the £14,250 in funding that they would have received had Badenoch not blocked their grant, as well as covering the group’s legal costs.
Kneecap say their legal action was never about the money, and they will donate the £14,250 to two Belfast organisations, Glór na Móna, which promotes Irish language activities and culture, and R-City Belfast, which offers personal and social development for young people.
The group’s statement following the court hearing began, “Today, unsurprisingly the British government’s own courts ruled that they acted illegally in stopping funding to Kneecap”.
Expanding further on why their creative output and political views offended Badenoch and the previous UK government, the group continued, “They didn’t like our views, in particular our opposition to the ‘United Kingdom’ itself and our belief in a United Ireland which is our right to do”.
“What they did”, they added, “was a fascist type action”, an “attempt to block art that does not agree with their views after an independent body made a decision”.
“Their own courts”, the group concluded, have “now found in Kneecap’s favour, as we knew they would. They have tried to silence us and they have failed”.