Restore Britain leader Rupert Lowe has had a legal challenge against the parliamentary watchdog thrown out by a High Court judge.
The Great Yarmouth MP, whose legal representative warned in February that the adjudicative process has the "potential to end [Mr Lowe's] career", took legal action against the Independent Complaints and Grievance Scheme.
The action came after the watchdog investigated a complaint made by a third party, who cannot be identified, in January 2025.
Mr Justice Chamberlain ruled earlier today that Mr Lowe's challenge was “barred by parliamentary privilege” and was “accordingly not justiciable”.
The High Court judge, who released a 14-page judgment, added that he had "reached no conclusion" about Mr Lowe's claim.
He continued: “If this court were to entertain Mr Lowe’s claim, it would have to determine whether, as he says, the complaint to the ICGS was politically motivated and made in bad faith.
“There are sound reasons, rooted in the constitutional separation of powers, for Parliament to reserve the determinations of complaints of this kind to its own carefully calibrated internal framework.
“There are equally sound reasons for the courts to respect that reservation.”
The Great Yarmouth MP took legal action against the Independent Complaints and Grievance Scheme
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Responding to the ruling, Mr Lowe said he aimed to “reclaim power for the elected MPs, and therefore the people” through the claim and that the decision allowed “unelected civil servants to weaponise parliamentary privilege”.
The Restore Britain leader, who last week celebrated a clean sweep of victories for Great Yarmouth First candidates standing for election to Norfolk County Council, added: “We now have the scandalous situation in which unqualified and unelected civil servants can wield parliamentary privilege to literally place themselves above the law.
“They now hold a special legal status, which means they cannot be challenged in court, positioned even higher than MPs for whom the system was actually designed.”
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The case is being heard in the High Court | GETTYMr Lowe was elected as Great Yarmouth's MP in the 2024 General Election.
The former Southampton FC chairman received 14,385 votes in the Norfolk constituency, seeing off Labour's Keir Cozens with a majority of 1,426.
The 68-year-old was suspended by Reform UK in March 2025 after the 68-year-old was accused of threatening the party's then-chairman Zia Yusuf.
The ex-Brexit Party MEP has consistently denied the allegations made against him.
Rupert Lowe unveiled Restore's ambitions earlier this month | PAThe Crown Prosecution Service later said no criminal charges would be brought against him in relation to the alleged threats.
Mr Lowe has spent most of his time sitting as an independent MP in the House of Commons.
However, the Great Yarmouth MP is now looking to build a rival party to Reform UK.
Despite just eight per cent of the British public identifying the Restore Britain leader, Mr Lowe is now considering putting forward a candidate in the upcoming Makerfield by-election.
Rupert Lowe was among five Reform UK MPs elected after the 2024 General Election
| PAHowever, today's ruling represents Mr Lowe's second High Court defeat related to the claim.
He lost a bid to temporarily block the watchdog from investigating the complaint until after a resolution of the claim in February.
Christopher Newman, who was representing Mr Lowe at the time, claimed in written submissions: "The scope for unjust harm arising from an adjudicative process, in this case one which has the potential to end the career of a member of parliament, being infected by bias is very significant."
Mr Justice Chamberlain said that Mr Lowe was seeking to challenge the parliamentary watchdog's decision on the basis that it was unreasonable, that it was “made vexatiously as part of a campaign of harassment”, and affected by “apparent bias”.