The UK Government has published its long-awaited European Union (Withdrawal Agreement) Bill (the “WAB”) that – if enacted – will give legal effect to the revised Withdrawal Agreement negotiated between the EU and the UK. The revised Agreement settles the terms of the UK’s departure from the EU in respect of citizens’ rights, the financial settlement... Continue Reading →
Getting a Hard Brexit Done -Towards a New Final Destination
With barely two weeks to go to a crunch European summit, the UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson has made his pitch for a revised Irish ‘backstop’ and a new Political Declaration on the future relationship between the EU and the UK. Not surprisingly given that what has been released deals solely with the backstop, the... Continue Reading →
The Supreme Court as a Constitutional Court: Reflections on Cherry/Miller
In a unanimous single judgment, the eleven justices of the UK Supreme Court have ruled that the purported prorogation of Parliament for five weeks from 9 September to 14 October was unlawful because the advice of the Prime Minister to Her Majesty the Queen was unlawful. The Supreme Court has declared that Parliament does not... Continue Reading →
Decision Time – Why Opposition Parties Need to Agree a ‘Brexit Manifesto’
In the Introduction to my book Brexit Time, I observed that Brexit was not the United Kingdom’s ‘manifest destiny’. Rather it was a choice. And it remains a choice. We have now reached the point where decisive choices can and need to be made. The options are clear. Under the Johnson Government, the option of... Continue Reading →