Kneecap have won their court case against the British government, with a Belfast court ruling that Kemi Badenoch, the former Secretary of State for Business and Trade who is now the Conservative Party leader, illegally blocked an arts grant to which they were fully entitled.
The West Belfast-based rap trio, vocal advocates for the reunification of Ireland, had applied for the UK's Music Export Growth Scheme (MEGS) grant, funded by the UK's Department for Business and Trade and the Department for Culture, Media & Sport, with support from the British Phonographic Industry, in order to offset costs of touring in the US.
But in February, having had their application rubber-stamped, the grant was vetoed by intervention from the Conservative government, with Kemi Badenoch telling the Irish Times newspaper, “We fully support freedom of speech, but it’s hardly surprising that we don’t want to hand out UK taxpayers’ money to people that oppose the United Kingdom itself.”
As a result of the court ruling in Belfast by Mr Justice Scoffield, the band - rappers Mo Chara (Liam Óg Ó Hannaidh) and Móglaí Bap (Naoise Ó Cairealláin) plus DJ Próvaí (JJ Ó Dochartaigh) - have been awarded £14,250, the same amount they were initially granted. The trio have split the award between two organisations in Belfast working with Catholic and Protestant youth.
Kneecap have released a statement after their court victory. It reads:
"Today, unsurprisingly the British government's own courts ruled that they acted illegally in stopping funding to Kneecap.
For us this action was never about £14,250, it could have been 50 pence. The motivation was equality. This was an attack on artistic culture, an attack on the Good Friday Agreement itself, and an attack on Kneecap and our way of expressing ourselves.
Today we will send the full amount awarded to two youth organisations in Belfast who work with the two communities to create a better future for our young people. £7,125 will go to ‘Glór Na Móna’ in Ballymurphy and £7,125 will go to ‘RCity Belfast’ on the Shankill Road.
The former Secretary of State Kemi Badenoch and her Department acted unlawfully, this is now a fact.
They don’t like that we oppose British rule, that we don’t believe that England serves anyone in Ireland and the working classes on both sides of the community deserve better; deserve funding, deserve appropriate mental health services, deserve to celebrate music and art and deserve the freedom to express our culture.
They broke their own laws in trying to silence Kneecap.
The reason for this was they didn’t like our art, in particular our beautiful 2019 tour poster of Boris Johnson on a rocket.
They didn’t like our views, in particular our opposition to the ‘United Kingdom’ itself and our belief in a United Ireland which is our right to do.
They didn’t like the fact that we are totally opposed to all they represent, embodied right now by their arming of genocide in Gaza.
What they did was a fascist type action, attempt to block art that does not agree with their views after an independent body made a decision.
Their own courts has now found in Kneecap’s favour, as we knew they would. They have tried to silence us and they have failed.
We wish to give a massive thanks to our lawyer Darragh Mackin and our barristers Joe Brolly and Ronan Lavery. They told us at the outset ‘This was a penalty kick with no goalkeeper’...and it sure was, back of the net!
Free Palestine! – Kneecap x
The band's lawyer, Darragh Mackin, added, “Today, a Court has exonerated our clients and declared this decision unlawful in every sense of the word. Today is not only a victory for Kneecap, but a victory for the arts, for culture, for the freedom of expression.
Kneecap continue to lead by example in practicing that they preach. Not only do they sing about CEARTA (rights), but today they have shown they will even hold the British Government itself to account to protect them.”
