Council of Civil Service Unions v Minister for the Civil Service Prerogative. Despite an extensive publicity campaign by trade unions, the government refused to reverse its decision, instead offering affected employees the choice between £1,000 and membership of a staff association or dismissal. Those employees dismissed could not rely on an industrial tribunal, as they were not covered by the relevant employment legislation. As such, the Council of Civil Service Unions decided judicial review was the only available route. The decision to ban workers at GCHQ from trade union membership had been taken following the meeting of a select group of ministers and the prime minister rather than the full Cabinet.
Council of Civil Service Unions v Minister for the Civil Service While the use of the Royal Prerogative for national security reasons is considered outside the scope of the courts, most other uses of the Prerogative are now judicially reviewable in some form. The GCHQ case also confirmed that non-legal conventions might be subject to "legitimate expectation". A convention would not have usually been litigible, and it was necessary for the court to demonstrate that it was in the present case: such a rule had been established in respect of Cabinet conventions in "Attorney General v Jonathan Cape Ltd". Although the court ruled against the union, it was accepted that the