‘The Divisional Court (Holgate LJ, Farbey J) has held, in the judicial review challenging the Met’s policy governing the use of life facial recognition (“LFR”), that the mere fact of a discretionary power being broad is insufficient to make that power not “in accordance with the law” (“IAWL”) or “prescribed by law” (“PBL”) for Article 8/10/11 ECHR purposes. It was this finding on the law against the claimants that mainly contributed to the claim being dismissed. I will argue in this post that there are arguments based primarily on authority, but also on principle, suggesting that the Divisional Court’s conclusion on this central legal issue is wrong.’
Administrative Court Blog, 22nd April 2026
