Kneecap: Kemi Badenoch blames ‘cowardly’ Labour for settlement

Conservative Get together chief Kemi Badenoch has stated it’s “unbelievable” that the Labour authorities have determined to not contest a discrimination case introduced by Belfast rap group Kneecap.

The group gained its case in opposition to the UK authorities over a call Badenoch took when she was a minister to withdraw an arts grant.

The group was awarded £14,250 – the identical quantity they have been initially granted.

A authorities spokesperson stated the choice was made to not proceed contesting the band’s problem as “we don’t consider it’s within the public curiosity”.

They added: “This authorities’s precedence is to attempt to scale back prices and assist shield the taxpayer from additional expense.”

Badenoch described the transfer as “yet one more cowardly determination after giving freely the Chagos Islands“.

“Labour will at all times capitulate quite than defend UK pursuits,” a spokesperson for the Conservative chief added.

The choice to dam the grant, taken by Badenoch when she was enterprise and commerce minister, was described in court docket by Kneecap’s barrister as “illegal and procedurally unfair”.

In an announcement, the band stated Badenoch and her division had “tried to silence us and so they have failed”.

The band stated it might break up the £14,250 equally between two youth organisations who work with Protestant and Catholic communities in Northern Eire “to create a greater future for our younger individuals”.

Kneecap initially utilized for a grant allotted to help UK-registered artists in world markets in December 2023.

The group, who’ve confronted controversy for his or her lyrics and political outlook, have been profitable of their utility, however have been subsequently blocked from receiving the funding after an intervention by the Division for Enterprise and Commerce.

On the time, then-UK Enterprise Secretary Kemi Badenoch’s spokesperson stated they didn’t wish to hand taxpayers’ cash “to those who oppose the UK itself”.

The band’s music and advertising and marketing closely options themes referring to Irish republicanism and opposition to British rule in Northern Eire.

The group have courted controversy and it claimed it was advised a 2019 tour, entitled Farewell to the Union, had angered the then Conservative authorities.

Kneecap have additionally antagonised unionists in Northern Eire – certainly one of their finest identified data is known as Get Your Brits Out, a parody rap by which the band go on an imaginary, drug-fuelled evening out with outstanding members of the Democratic Unionist Get together (DUP).

In assertion following Friday’s court docket listening to, band member DJ Próvaí stated: “For us this motion was by no means about £14,250, it may have been 50p.”

The group stated its motivation for taking the case was “equality”.

“This was an assault on inventive tradition, an assault on the Good Friday Settlement itself and an assault on Kneecap and our method of expressing ourselves.”

In an announcement following the settlement, Badeonch’s spokesperson stated “this case will not be about whether or not a band promotes violence or hates the UK, as Kneecap clearly do; that is about whether or not authorities ministers have the flexibility to cease taxpayers’ cash subsidising individuals who neither want nor deserve it”.

“Labour would quite waste your cash than stand as much as a gaggle of Irish republicans who go to court docket as a result of the UK authorities gained’t hand them money.”

Kneecap have stated it should break up the cash awarded to them between two Belfast charities, Glór Na Móna in Ballymurphy and RCity Belfast on the Shankill Highway.

Sarah Jane Waite, director of RCity Belfast, expressed the charity’s thanks for the “generosity and help from Kneecap”.

She stated the donation might be used towards plenty of tasks, together with each native and worldwide programmes.

Feargal Mac Ionnrachtaigh, govt director of Glór Na Móna, stated it was a “nice shock” to obtain information concerning the funding.

The membership, based mostly in west Belfast, was beforehand attended by Kneecap member Liam Óg Ó hAnnaidh, identified by his stage title Mo Chara.

Mr Mac Ionnrachtaigh added that they’re a grassroots group in a deprived space, and the cash might be put to “good use” together with in the direction of the development of a brand new constructing.

“The important thing for us is… 25 years after the Good Friday Settlement, we now have constructed a sector by means of the medium of Irish, however we’re nonetheless discovering ourselves in cellular huts and substandard lodging,” he advised BBC Radio Ulster’s Night Further programme.

“This donation goes to the center of that.”

Mr Mac Ionnrachtaigh stated Mo Chara was a part of the “new era” of Irish-medium youth availing of the Glór Na Móna’s companies, and added he could be talking to the group on Friday night to thank them for the donation.

“The thought of making social change by means of youth, by means of artwork, by means of tradition is what Kneecap are in the end about and what each of those youth tasks are in the end about,” he stated.

“This funding at present will go an extended approach to elevate that.”

Nonetheless, the group has confronted criticism and censorship over their politically-charged, expletive-filled and drug-referencing lyrics.

Their use of Troubles-related imagery has additionally offended some critics.