[2023] UKUT 170 (AAC)

The Council stands four-square behind the Commissioner in his response to the appeal, with Mr Fitzsimons adopting and fully endorsing Mr White’s submissions. In addition, the Council makes three further points. The first is the contention that the Appellant’s grounds do not come close to discharging the burden of showing that his consent to the course of action adopted by the FTT was other than “voluntary, informed and unequivocal”. The second is the submission that a litigant in person cannot rely on that status after the event to overturn an outcome with which they are dissatisfied, as that would be both undesirable in principle and unfair to the other parties. The third is the argument that it would not be fair now for the Appellant to raise an alleged unfairness in circumstances where it was clear to him how the FTT would proceed and he had made no request to vary that procedure or object to it.