Council of Civil Service Unions v Minister for the Civil Service

CCSU v Minister for the Civil Service (GCHQ case)
Court	House of Lords
Full case name	Council of Civil Service Unions & Others v Minister for the Civil Service
Decided	22 November 1984
Citation(s)	[1984] UKHL 9, [1985] AC 374, [1984] 3 WLR 1174, [1985] ICR 14, [1984] 3 All ER 935, [1985] IRLR 28
ECLI	ECLI:CE:ECHR:1987:0120DEC001160385
Transcript(s)	Bailii transcript
Court membership
Judge(s) sitting	Lord Fraser of Tullybelton Lord Scarman Lord Diplock Lord Roskill Lord Brightman
Keywords
Judicial review royal prerogative freedom of association GCHQ

Council of Civil Service Unions v Minister for the Civil Service [1984] UKHL 9, or the GCHQ case, is a United Kingdom constitutional law and UK labour law case that held the royal prerogative was subject to judicial review.^[1]

In 1984, by issuing a directive based on an Order in Council made using the royal prerogative, the government of Margaret Thatcher banned employees of the Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ) from joining any trade union for national security reasons. The Council of Civil Service Unions claimed in judicial review that the order defeated their legitimate expectation of being able to collectively bargain for fair wages. Glidewell J in the High Court held the instruction was invalid. The Court of Appeal held national security concerns meant that judicial review was impossible. The House of Lords held that exercises of the royal prerogative were subject to judicial review, but there were exceptions, including for matters of national security. This was a significant break from the previous law, which held that prerogative powers were not in any way subject to judicial review. The GCHQ case established that judicial review depends on the nature of the government's powers, not their source.