Divisional Court hands down judgment on existence of Royal Prerogative in terrorism cases

In a highly important constitutional decision, the Divisional Court (Hamblen LJ and Cranston J) has handed down judgment in R (XH and AI) v. Secretary of State for the Home Department [2016] EWHC 1898 (Admin). The case concerns a challenge to the lawfulness of the use of the Royal Prerogative to cancel or revoke the passports of individuals suspected of seeking to travel to engage in terrorism related activity. The Claimants argued, amongst other things, that the prerogative power had been abrogated by the travel restriction measures in the Terrorism Prevention and Investigation Measures Act 2011; and that the scope of the Prerogative was insufficiently certain to comply with the requirements of EU law. In its judgment, the Divisional Court rejected the claim on all grounds. It has granted permission to appeal to the Court of Appeal on the abrogation and EU law arguments. David Blundell appeared for the Secretary of State for the Home Department, led by First Treasury Counsel James Eadie QC. A copy of the judgment is available here.