South Lanarkshire Loses

I take my hat off to the UK Supreme Court which just a few minutes ago announced its decision on the big Freedom of Information case involving South Lanarkshire Council.

The Court decided, unanimously, that South Lanarkshire's appeal should be rejected and that Mr Irvine (i.e. me) is 'entitled to the information he seeks'. 

Yipeee!

After three long years, justice and common sense have finally prevailed - although no thanks to South Lanarkshire Council which has wasted over £200,000 of public money fighting this case.

The information I am seeking relates to the pay of traditional male council jobs - which will expose whether male council workers have been more favourably treated in recent years - than their women colleagues.

As regular readers know, South Lanarkshire originally dismissed my request as 'vexatious' - but now it is one of Scotland's largest council's which is left looking rather silly and, after this decision, with egg all over its face.    

The UK Supreme Court ruling comes on top of a previous judgement, also unanimous, from the Court of Session, Scotland's highest civil court - and an earlier adjudication in my favour from the Scottish Information Commissioner.

South Lanarkshire Council and its political leadership have lots of questions to answer over this debacle - and the terrible waste of public money involved.

In the meantime, I would like to thank the Scottish Information Commissioner (SIC) and the SIC legal team - including Richard Keen QC - for their good judgement and unstinting support over the past three years.

The wheels of justice turn very slowly at times, alas, but today they finally caught up with South Lanarkshire Council - which should hang its head in shame.