Where does Reform stand on investor-state dispute settlements (ISDS)?

The case of a planned Cumbrian coalmine shows how governments around the world are being threatened by litigation in shadowy offshore courts

The UK’s democratic decisions are being auctioned off in secret courts. Look at the Whitehaven coalmine in Cumbria. After a High Court victory by campaigners and a subsequent Labour government decision to block it, the project is back from the grave—not through our Parliament, but through an offshore tribunal.

A company ultimately owned via the Cayman Islands is now using an ISDS tribunal to sue the UK for the hypothetical future profits it claims the mine would have made. Representing this foreign entity against the British government? None other than former Tory MP and Attorney General, Geoffrey Cox.

This is the reality of Investor-State Dispute Settlement (ISDS). It’s a parallel justice system for foreign corporations, allowing them to sue sovereign governments for passing laws—like climate policies—that threaten their expected returns. Cases are heard in private by rotating corporate lawyers. There is no appeal. Our own courts and citizens have no standing.

The threat isn’t abstract. Alongside the Whitehaven case, sanctioned Russian oligarch Mikhail Fridman is using ISDS to sue the UK. His legal team in a similar case against Luxembourg includes Cherie Blair—showing how the political elite of all stripes enables this system.

Globally, fossil fuel firms have extracted $84 billion from nations via ISDS. The chilling effect is massive: France, Denmark, and New Zealand have all rolled back climate ambitions for fear of lawsuits.

We were told ISDS was for "poor countries" and wouldn't affect Britain. That was a lie. Now, Labour is reportedly pushing to include ISDS in a new trade deal with India, continuing the Tory tradition of negotiating these sovereignty-surrender clauses in secret.

This is a fundamental question of who governs Britain. Will we allow policy to be set by secret tribunals protecting foreign corporate profits, or by our own elected representatives?

Where does Reform UK stand on ripping these ISDS clauses out of our trade deals?