R (British Gas Trading Ltd) v Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero (formerly Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy)

Subject Matter

EUROPEAN UNION — Free competition — State aid

[2023] EWHC 737 (Admin), DC

EUROPEAN UNION — Free competition — State aid — Secretary of State giving funding to energy supply company in administration and agreeing to transfer of business — Retail energy sector companies seeking judicial review of decisions — Divisional Court dismissing application for delay but concluding decisions met subsidy control requirements — Whether standard of review required involving proportionality or whether limited to domestic principles of judicial review — European Union (Future Relationship) Act 2020 (c 29), s 29 — Trade and Co-operation Agreement between the European Union and the European Atomic Energy Community and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, arts 4, 363, 366, 372

[2025] EWCA Civ 209; [2025] 1 WLR 3342; [2025] WLR(D) 135, CA

JUDICIAL REVIEW — Delay — Refusal of relief — Secretary of State giving funding to energy supply company and approving transfer of company’s business — Claim for judicial review of Secretary of State’s decisions — Whether undue delay in bringing claim — Whether nature of relief sought affecting whether claimant guilty of undue delay

[2025] EWCA Civ 209; [2025] 1 WLR 3342; [2025] WLR(D) 135, CA

EUROPEAN UNION — State aid — Subsidy control — Secretary of State giving funding to energy supply company — Claim for judicial review of decision to grant funding on ground decision breaching subsidy control principles — Whether standard of review required involving proportionality or limited to domestic principles of judicial review — Energy Act 2004 (c 20), s 165 — European Union (Future Relationship) Act 2020 (c 29), s 29(1) — Trade and Co-operation Agreement between the European Union and the European Atomic Energy Community and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, arts 363, 366

[2025] EWCA Civ 209; [2025] 1 WLR 3342; [2025] WLR(D) 135, CA

Appellate History