{"id":90813,"date":"2026-03-12T06:52:32","date_gmt":"2026-03-12T06:52:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.taxresearch.org.uk\/Blog\/?p=90813"},"modified":"2026-03-12T06:52:32","modified_gmt":"2026-03-12T06:52:32","slug":"libel-law-still-needs-reform","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.taxresearch.org.uk\/Blog\/2026\/03\/12\/libel-law-still-needs-reform\/","title":{"rendered":"Libel law still needs reform"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>This is excellent news from<a href=\"https:\/\/goodlawproject.org\/update\/win-high-court-throws-out-8m-lawsuit-over-tax-avoidance-investigation\/?utm_source=Good+Law+Project&amp;utm_campaign=fccf2bf06c-EMAIL_NeidleKamal_2026_03_11_03_04&amp;utm_medium=email&amp;utm_term=0_db5adb9599-fccf2bf06c-464549031&amp;mc_cid=fccf2bf06c&amp;mc_eid=d5b2b68e94\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"> the Good Law Project:<\/a><\/p>\n<blockquote><p>The High Court has\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/goodlawproject.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/085-Kamal-v-Tax-Policy-Associates-Final.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">dismissed<\/a>\u00a0an \u00a38m defamation claim brought against a journalist, branding it \u201cspectacularly inflated\u201d and intentionally \u201coppressive\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>The claim, brought by barrister Setu Kamal, related to\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/taxpolicy.org.uk\/2025\/02\/26\/tiktok-tax-avoidance-from-arka-wealth-why-the-government-and-the-bar-should-act\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">an article by tax law expert Dan Neidle<\/a>\u00a0which criticised Kamal\u2019s involvement in a dodgy tax avoidance scheme.<\/p>\n<p>After Kamal made a\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/taxpolicy.org.uk\/2025\/09\/04\/setu-kamal-incompetent-injunction\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">failed application for an injunction<\/a>\u00a0which the court said contained \u201ca catalogue of procedural and substantive failings\u201d, he issued an extraordinary claim against Dan for more than \u00a38m.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>I do not always agree with Dan Neidle, but I have no doubt that he was sued totally inappropriately on this occasion and was delighted that the Good Law Project joined in to support his defence.<\/p>\n<p>This is the first occasion on which a libel claim has been brought down under the new SLAPP (Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation) laws, but I still agree with this comment from the Good Law Project:<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p class=\"m_5192118924325022235mcePastedContent\">We\u2019re delighted we\u2019ve won, but\u00a0the law still needs reform\u00a0to stop bad actors using the law to silence whistleblowers.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Libel law has too often been used to prevent the truth from being told, and that undermines our democracy.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>This is excellent news from the Good Law Project: The High Court has\u00a0dismissed\u00a0an \u00a38m defamation claim brought against a journalist, branding it \u201cspectacularly inflated\u201d and<br \/><a class=\"moretag\" href=\"https:\/\/www.taxresearch.org.uk\/Blog\/2026\/03\/12\/libel-law-still-needs-reform\/\"><em> Read the full article&#8230;<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[204,35,16,97],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-90813","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-economic-justice","category-economics","category-ethics","category-tax-justice"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.taxresearch.org.uk\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/90813","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.taxresearch.org.uk\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.taxresearch.org.uk\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.taxresearch.org.uk\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.taxresearch.org.uk\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=90813"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.taxresearch.org.uk\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/90813\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":90829,"href":"https:\/\/www.taxresearch.org.uk\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/90813\/revisions\/90829"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.taxresearch.org.uk\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=90813"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.taxresearch.org.uk\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=90813"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.taxresearch.org.uk\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=90813"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}