We can’t say we’re shocked that Andy Burnham has sacked Bridget Phillipson as Education Secretary. One of her first acts as Secretary of State was to torpedo the Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Act 2023 (HEFSA) — arguably the most consequential piece of free speech legislation in the past 15 years. She reversed the commencement orders that would have brought the Act’s most important provisions into force, including the vital complaints scheme. Rather than asking Parliament to do so, she bypassed it through ministerial fiat. The Free Speech Union challenged this in the High Court on two grounds: first, that it breached the sacrosanct constitutional principle that a minister cannot defy the will of Parliament; and second, that she had failed to carry out an adequate impact assessment. Days before the case was due to be heard, Bridget Phillipson partially U-turned, announcing that she would commence most of the key provisions — and she duly did. We then became embroiled in a long-standing dispute over who had won the case. That mattered because it determined who would pay the legal costs. The High Court decided that the Free Speech Union had won and ordered the Government to pay our costs. Importantly, when Phillipson announced her partial U-turn, the Free Speech Union offered to settle if the Government paid £80,000 — around a quarter of our total legal costs. Pretty fair, no? Well, the Government refused. The Free Speech Union believes this was because Phillipson did not want to admit she had reversed course. The High Court has now ordered the Government to pay all of our costs. Bridget Phillipson’s hubris has cost taxpayers around £200,000. Combined with the Government’s own legal costs, the total bill exceeds £500,000. That also means we now have the resources to challenge Phillipson’s successor, Lucy Powell, should she attempt to reverse any of the commencement orders that bring HEFSA into force — including the much-needed complaints scheme for academics, university staff and visiting speakers, which is due to come into force on 1 September. Hear from @SpeechUnion General Secretary Lord Young of Acton 👇