Stonewall funding: Stormont issued with writ for judicial review by Jamie Bryson

A legal writ for a judicial review has been lodged to challenge the Department of Finance’s continued funding of the controversial pro-trans charity Stonewall.

The department confirmed this week that it has given a further £2,500 to the LGBTQI lobby group on top of almost £12,000 granted to it between 2019 and this year.

Sinn Fein Finance Minister Conor Murphy and his department received the proposed claim by the applicant, the loyalist activist Jamie Bryson, yesterday.

In his proposed claim for judicial review, Mr Bryson charges that the Department of Finance “has acted unlawfully in directing expenditure in relation to membership of Stonewall, in circumstances whereby this is a significant and/or controversial matter within the meaning of section 20(4) of the Northern Ireland Act 1998 and therefore absent Executive approval the Minister is deprived of authority to take such a decision.”

In his submission, Mr Bryson has given the department until September 28 to respond to his application.

He has described Stonewall as a “divisive” and “controversial” organisation whose funding should be subject to full Executive authority before any Stormont department decides to give the charity further funding.

The Department of Finance insists that because Stonewall is a section 75 group – classified by the Belfast Agreement as an organisation that promotes equality of opportunity between persons of different religious belief, political opinion, racial group, age, marital status and sexual orientation – it does not require full Executive approval for funding.

A spokesperson for the department said it was committed through its work with Stonewall to building an inclusive and diverse civil service.

“The Civil Service has renewed its membership of the Stonewall Champions Programme (at a cost of £2,500) joining 900 other employers who participate in this programme. Stonewall is one of a number of organisations with which the Civil Service engages to our wide ranging work on equality, diversity and inclusion.”

Stonewall has come under sustained criticism over its promotion of a pro-transgender ideology and has been the subject of a major investigation by the Stephen Nolan Show over its influence on public bodies, local and regional governments.

Last year Stonewall used its influence to persuade the Scottish government to delete the word “mother” from its maternity leave policy.