Belfast rap trio Kneecap have won a legal case against the UK government, following the withdrawal of Music Exports Growth Scheme funding.
The scheme, administered by the BPI, aims to support UK label talent overseas.
The band, signed to Heavenly/PIAS, took legal action after they were blocked from a MEGS grant worth almost £15,000.
Following the brief hearing in Belfast High Court today (November 29) where an agreement was reached, the Department for Business & Trade has accepted that decision was “unlawful and procedurally unfair”.
Kneecap, who are strongly republican and oppose British rule in Northern Ireland, have been seen as lyrically controversial. Band member DJ Próvaí arrived at the court in an old Land Rover bearing the Irish tricolour and Palestinian flags.
The decision to withdraw the funding was taken by now Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch, who was then Secretary of State for Business and Trade. At the time, her spokesperson said the government did not want to give taxpayers’ money “to people that oppose the United Kingdom itself”.
Phoenix Law was instructed by Kneecap to take legal action over the case. The band had been successful in their original application – but that was then overruled by Badenoch.
The group were awarded £14,250, equivalent to the MEGS funding they were initially granted. They said the money would be shared between two youth organisations who work with Protestant and Catholic communities.
"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," said the band in a statement following the hearing.
A spokesperson for the Department of Business & Trade said it was not in the public interest to continue contesting the band's legal challenge.
“This government’s priority is to try to reduce costs and help protect the taxpayer from further expense, so we will not continue to contest Kneecap’s challenge as we do not believe it is in the public interest," said the spokesperson.
The BPI declined to comment.
PHOTO: Peadar Ó Goill
