Sacha Lord loses legal battle against government to reopen indoor hospitality before 17th May
The judgement came just hours before a SAGE report emerged that stated that "eating out in any food outlet or restaurant was not associated with increased odds" of becoming infected with coronavirus (COVID-19).
The High Court has ruled in favour of the government in a legal challenge over its decision to delay the reopening of indoor hospitality until 17th May.
The judgement comes after Greater Manchester’s Night Time Economy Adviser, Sacha Lord – who is also the co-founder of Parklife Festival and Warehouse Project – and Punch Taverns founder Hugh Osmond, notably joined forces last month to take the government to court over hospitality restrictions as they argued that bars, restaurants and cafes should be allowed to provide indoor service on the same date as non-essential retail reopens.
It’s estimated that the delay in reopening indoor hospitality could end up costing the sector £7 billion over the five weeks.
The case to permit the reopening of indoor hospitality was expedited at the start of last month, and a response was initially supposed to be provided on the week commencing Monday 19th April – but was delayed.
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Following the delays, Mr Lord – who has continuously claimed over the last couple of months that the government has been unable to provide evidence for their reasoning behind the roadmap, and has insisted he will share the documents once received – took to social media last week to confirm that the case was with a High Court Judge and he was “expecting news imminently”.
He stressed that “every day counts” and that it’s about “data NOT dates”.
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Legal update:
We were informed a ruling would be made the week commencing the 19th.
We have now been informed, a High Court Judge was not available last week and it is now, at last, sat with him.
And after nearly a week of awaiting response, the High Court ruled in favour of the government in the case R (On the Application of Sacha Lord and Hugh Osmond) v Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, saying that COVID-19 justifies a cautious approach.
The judgement came just hours before a SAGE report emerged that stated that “eating out in any food outlet or restaurant was not associated with increased odds” of becoming infected with coronavirus (COVID-19), and while it’s said that the report was not disclosed by the defence during the legal proceedings, in the overview, the Honourable Mr Justice Julian Knowles dismissed the call for Judicial Review to bring forward indoor reopenings as “academic”.
“This case is not ‘academic’ for an industry that is losing £200m every day it remains closed,” Hugh Osmand commented.
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“For the over three million people who work in our industry, or for the tens of thousands of businesses, suppliers, landlords and contractors forced into bankruptcy by government measures, our legal action gave them a fighting chance,
“Yet once again in 2021, the strong arm of the state has come crushing down on hope and aspiration.
“The judge said that Covid ‘justifies a precautionary or cautious approach on the part of the government’, but when a crucial SAGE report is ignored, this goes far beyond caution, and questions need to be asked about when this advice was sought and why this important evidence was not disclosed.
“I am deeply concerned that the judge’s main reason for refusing judicial review was because our claim ‘was not brought promptly’, even though we issued our claim days after the roadmap became law on 25th March, with the court taking a month to provide its ruling.
“This judgment drives a coach and horses through our normal constitutional processes.
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“Are we really being told that we should have issued legal proceedings on the basis of a Prime Minister’s press conference and a yet to be published set of laws?
“Our democracy should be better than this”.
In a normal legal case, non-disclosure of evidence like the Sage report would wreck the Government's case. But, after considering it over the weekend, our legal team advise it is not grounds to challenge the Judicial Review decision. We will be reviewing other legal options.
The Gov’t FAILED to disclose a SAGE report, confirming that during the whole pandemic, only 226 cases were associated to Hospitality. pic.twitter.com/bQlRquPCW5
Commenting on the decision, Sacha Lord said in a statement: “We are disappointed with the outcome.
“While this fight has always been an uphill battle, made harder by the government’s delaying tactics and refusal to mediate, we are pleased that the case has shone a light on the hospitality sector and the unfair and unequal guidance within the recovery roadmap [as] through our legal challenges, we have achieved significant outcomes for the sector, abolishing the substantial meal requirement with our previous court action and lobbying hard to remove with the 10pm curfew.
“Both of these results have had a hugely positive impact on operators nationwide who have been unfairly treated throughout this crisis and undoubtedly saved many jobs throughout the industry.
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“Through our legal action, we have sent a clear, strong message direct to the heart of government [and] we will continue to advocate for those who have been unfairly impacted throughout this crisis, and despite the outcome, we will continue to hold the government to account and demand evidence-based decisions, rather than those drafted without detailed analysis or based on bias or whim”.
Flickr
He continued: “The hospitality sector has gone above and beyond to implement measures which provide safe, secure environments – measures which were, let’s not forget, advised as safe by the government themselves and which the court already deemed to be effective based on the evidence we provided in support of our previous judicial review.
“There are thousands of bars, pubs and restaurants across the country which are still closed and whose owners and employees are struggling financially due to these unfair restrictions.
“For the 40% minority who do have outdoor space, this weekend’s weather has only exacerbated the ongoing struggles the industry has continually faced, and I’ve heard of countless pubs that have been forced to close early or who have had zero customers due to the bad weather.
“Not only does this severely impact on business and sector recovery, but on the staff whose wages, and ability to pay rent, food and bills, are at the mercy of something as unpredictable as the weather”.
Featured Image – Weird & Wonderful
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Major DJ forced to pull out of Parklife festival on doctor’s orders
Thomas Melia
A well-known techno and trance DJ will no longer be playing at Parklife this weekend, he’s announced, with just one day to go until his major set.
Anyone heading to Heaton Park over the weekend for Manchester-based festival, Parklife, may notice the lineup looks a little different after one distinctive DJ has pulled out due to doctor’s orders.
Marlon Hoffstadt, who also goes by the moniker ‘DJ Daddy Trance’, was expected to play out on the Matinée stage on Saturday 20 June from 6.30pm – 8pm.
The Germany-based act was taking to the decks right before Manchester’s own Morgan Seatree, who has become recognised for his material which is an ode to house music and is likely to be one of the busiest sets of the weekend.
Hoffstadt had two gigs this weekend; the first being Parklife in Manchester and the second Fête de la Musique in Paris, both of which he has since pulled out of in a newly-published social media announcement.
The Berlin-born music maker has reluctantly called off these upcoming appearances and justified his decision by saying: “As much as I hate missing shows, I need to put my recovery first”.
To much dismay, Hoffstadt received doctor’s advice who deemed him ‘currently not fit to fly’ following surgery, urging him to rest and recover.
Marlon posted today: “I’m so sad to have to share this, but unfortunately I won’t be able to play Parklife in Manchester and Fête de la Musique in Paris this weekend.
“I recently had a surgery and, following my doctor’s advice, I’m currently not fit to fly and need rest and recover.
“I know many of you made plans and were looking forward to it, and I’m so sorry to let you down.
“As much as I hate missing shows, I need to put my recovery first so I can get back to doing what I love as soon as possible.”
As much as the presence of this world-class performer will be missed, there’s still plenty of notable names set to make their mark on Parklife including Zara Larsson, Calvin Harris, Skepta and more.
The outdoor big music weekender has established itself as a rave haven with mainly dance artists and DJs making up its lineup through a variety of curated b2b sets and live performances.
If you’re after immersing yourself in some jungle music, Bradford-native Nia Archives will have you transfixed over at The Valley with her jungle-heavy tunes from 6.30pm – 7.30pm or there’s three more stages to take your pick from.
We’re sure that anyone eager to see the ‘Hands Up In The Sky’ producer live may be frustrated by this brand-new social media announcement however as Hoffstadt mentions it’s so he can “Get back to doing what I love as soon as possible”.
‘This could be the turning point’ – Andy Burnham’s speech in full as he wins the Makerfield by-election
Emily Sergeant
Andy Burnham has clinched the victory in the crucial Makerfield by-election.
After the polls closed at 10pm last night (18 June), victory for Burnham was officially declared at just gone 3am – with the Greater Manchester Mayor, now Labour MP, winning 24,927 votes (54.8% vote share) and a majority of 9,231.
Burnham’s victory is a sizeable majority over second place, Reform UK’s Robert Kenyon – who, despite claims he might be able to seize the constituency, won just 15,696 votes (34.5%).
This is, however, Reform’s second-highest ever vote share at a by-election, just over 4% less than 2025’s Runcorn and Helsby.
Restore Britain’s Rebecca Shepherd came third, with 3,111 votes (6.8%).
The turnout in Makerfield was 58.75%, which is higher than the turnout for the constituency at the General Election in 2024, and, even more surprisingly, the third-highest by-election turnout since World War II.
Andy Burnham’s victory speech in full
“Everyone knows that politics isn’t working. Everyone can feel that the country isn’t where it should be. Tonight could, just could, be the turning point.
“From here on, I will give everything I have got to make it so. To ensure the name Makerfield is forever synonymous with bringing about the change this country needs, bringing back something we’ve lost – hope. Hope for the future.
“I am proud that this place has shone in the world’s spotlight for the last few weeks and the warmth, humour and hospitality of its people has been on show for all to see. It will never be a stepping stone to me, but instead will be my touchstone. A Makerfield test at the heart of British politics will make sure that the places Westminster has neglected will now get fairness.
“I spoke in the campaign about the need to change politics. I promised to lead by example, from the front, as your Member of Parliament.
“I know people who traditionally vote for the Conservatives, the Liberal Democrats, the Greens, and perhaps more recently for Reform UK, have given me their support in this election. I will always have respect to them for that. And out of respect for them, I will always take a place-first, rather than a party-first, approach and I will focus on problem-solving rather than point-scoring.
“And I will work hard after this by-election to heal the divisions of this campaign. And let it be really understood that I will be your MP, however you voted.
“When this borough went to the polls in May, it made a loud cry for change. In this campaign we have begun to answer that. But I do say to my own party – this is a final chance to change. This is what people said directly to me on the hundreds of doorsteps that I stood on. We must hear it, we must act upon it and we must get it right. There will be no second chance.
“But there is a chance now from this result tonight to build a new politics based on unity and hope.
“Turning away from the path that takes us to a divided, dark politics of the kind we see in the United States. We must now take this path and put this country back on the right path, and bring people back together and get things working properly again.
“It is with some sadness that this result brings an end to my wonderful nine years as mayor of Greater Manchester.
“This city region has given so much to me. And it is a wrench to leave the job I love. But I am not leaving the service of Greater Manchester. I’ve always been clear that it can’t achieve everything it should be and we can’t close the north-south divide, and we can’t make all the great English cities be what they should be without big change at the national level.
“I always knew one day I would seek to go back to Westminster to complete that unfinished business so that Makerfield and Greater Manchester, and the north of England, can fulfil their potential.
“This result will bring about a country that works fairly for everywhere and for everybody.
“People here have voted for change. They have voted for more power for the North and everywhere forgotten by Westminster. They have voted for hope. Now, let’s give that back to them.”
The Manc -
4th May 2021 
