The Case

Local government Reorganisation. It was trite that the Crown and ministers including the Secretary of State enjoyed legal personality, such that it would prima facie be entitled, so far as vires in the strictest sense was concerned, to undertake any lawful act, even if that act was plainly governmental. Further, ministers in certain circumstances had the power to take steps of a 'governmental' character without the support of any statutory authority, whether express or implied. That was the case in the light of authorities which had held that a body such as the Criminal Injuries Compensation Board, as not having been constituted by statute or by statutory instrument, but by an act of the Crown, that being the act of executive government alone, and in addition, the 'Consultancy Service Index', which was a list of persons who had convictions for child sex offences, that index having been created in a similar way. In the instant case, the Secretary of State's decision to implement proposals from local authorities, on the creation of local unitary government structures, was not ultra vires; it had power to take the steps it had despite the facts that it had no statutory authority, whether express or implied, to do so, and that no specific prerogative power had been engaged.