Freemasons to make injunction bid over Met Police membership declaration plan

Earlier this month, the bodies representing Freemasons in England, Wales, the Isle of Man and the Channel Islands took the first step to bring legal action over the force’s decision at the High Court.

The United Grand Lodge of England (UGLE), also acting on behalf of The Order of Women Freemasons and the Honourable Fraternity of Ancient Freemasons, said the move is discriminatory against Freemasons.

Earlier in December, the Met announced that membership of the Freemasons would be added to its declarable associations policy along with other “hierarchical organisations”.

Read more: Freemasons to take legal action against Met over plan to reveal membership

Officers and staff are now required to declare membership “past or present” of any organisation that is “hierarchical, has confidential membership and requires members to support and protect each other”.

UGLE said that the reporting requirement could undermine the public credibility of Freemasons, and could breach their human rights and GDPR rules.

On Monday, the group said the Met had agreed to a full consultation on the policy, but was not willing to suspend it.

UGLE said that it was now seeking an injunction to suspend the policy until the outcome of the full High Court challenge.

It is understood that a hearing over whether to grant the injunction could take place within the next week.

UGLE grand secretary Adrian Marsh said: “There is a contradiction between the Met acceptance of our request for fuller consultation, which we welcome, but then refusing to suspend the decision pending the outcome of that consultation.

“To date, the consultation process has been wholly inadequate, prejudicial and unjust – and this injunction is the first step we must resort to, to protect our members whose integrity is impugned by the Met decision.”

UGLE previously said that less than 5% of officers and staff completed the survey on the issue, and accused the force of refusing to consider any alternative solutions.

And it said that the requirement of Freemasons to support and protect each other comes with the caveat that this is without detriment to their family or the law of the land.

The Met’s decision follows a survey of officers and staff which showed two thirds of respondents felt membership of such organisations affects perception of police impartiality and public trust, the force previously said.

More recently, Met chief Sir Mark Rowley has pushed the plan to declare membership as part of wider moves to improve transparency in the force.

A Met Police spokesperson said: “We will robustly defend our decision to require officers and staff to declare if they are Freemasons.

“Two thirds of officers and staff surveyed agree that the policy is needed. We think the majority of the public would also agree.

“There have been calls going back a number of years for the role of Freemasonry in policing to be properly addressed, including as a recommendation in the report of the Daniel Morgan Independent Panel. We strongly believe that failing to act on these calls would further damage trust not only among the public but also other officers and staff.

“Victims should be able to know that when they report allegations to us, the officers investigating have been transparent about any potential conflicts of interest. Similarly, officers and staff should be able to know that when they report wrongdoing by colleagues it will be investigated on its merits with no opportunity for secret loyalties to play any part.

“We must prioritise the maintenance of vital trust and confidence over any organisation’s desire to maintain secrecy.”