Ravi-EI is correct. The rules were published on 18th March 2010, under the last Labour government.
Links to the archived UKBA website and document of statement of changes in 2010;
http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov. ... -t2-and-ir
See point 57, page 12 of the document below;
http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov. ... -of-policy
While the team spirit reflected on the thread, in backing each other in taking the UKBA to court, is positive, I'm surprised that nobody did a basic Google search to verify whether the premise (that the rules were only introduced in 2012) was true or not. Kudos to
Ravi-EI for bucking the trend and coming up with some constructive adverse research.