Category: European Union
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Tom Hickman: Contempt of Parliament, Political Satire and the Case of the Rt Hon Rees-Mogg MP
In dramatic scenes in the House of Commons on 3 September 2019, the House wrestled control of its proceedings from the Government so it could pass legislation to prevent the UK crashing out of the EU. The legislation received Royal Assent less than a week later. As the political and constitutional implications continue to reverberate,…
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Robert Craig: What Could Happen Next If the Government Resigns Rather than Send the Letter to the EU?
This post follows on from a previous piece where I attempted to set out the general rules, and a flowchart, to create a route map in the event of a vote of no confidence. This post seeks to address the narrower question of what could happen if the Prime Minister (‘PM’) refused to send the…
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Weekly round-up of events
This week’s event announcement is below. ~~~ The Rise of Constitutional Identity Review in Europe: A Critical Assessment 12-13 September 2019 Bentham House, UCL Laws, London WC1H 0EG (map) This two-day research conference will bring together legal scholars, practitioners and constitutional court judges to discuss the rise of constitutional identity review in Europe. This development,…
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Jacob Rowbottom: Political Purposes and the Prorogation of Parliament
While the prorogation of Parliament has generated political controversy, constitutional lawyers are asking whether the government acted legally in advising the Monarch. The legal challenges to the prorogation will face a number of hurdles. Even if the prerogative power is justiciable, there are difficult questions in identifying the specific legal issue. When writing about a…
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Philip Allott: The Legality of a No-Deal Brexit Could Be Challenged
It may be that there is no such thing as a date of 31 October 2019 for a no-deal UK withdrawal from the EU. On 9 April 2019, according to Le Monde, Michel Barnier, chief negotiator for the European Council in the withdrawal negotiations with the UK, said: ‘The EU will never take a decision…
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Kyle Murray: Putting Parliament in Its Place: The Pro-Brexit, Democratic Case for a Second Brexit Referendum
I am a Brexiteer. I am also a democrat (indeed for me the two are very much connected). In this post, I argue that despite mainstream protests to the contrary, democratic principle points to a strong case for a second Brexit referendum. The argument also gives some food for thought regarding the democratic credentials of…
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Robert Craig: Judicial Review of Advice to Prorogue Parliament
In a recent Times article, Lord Pannick QC – leading Counsel in the Miller litigation – argues that if a Prime Minister were to advise HMQ to prorogue parliament to achieve a No Deal exit, an application could be made to the courts to determine the lawfulness of such advice. Sir John Major said on…
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Yossi Nehushtan: The Unreasonable Perception of Rationality and Reasonableness in UK Public Law
In the recent case of R (Campaign Against Arms Trade) v Secretary of State for International Trade [2019] (hereinafter CAAT), the Court of Appeal invalidated the UK government’s decision to grant licences for the sale of military equipment to Saudi Arabia for possible use in the conflict in Yemen. The court found that the government had…
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Sam Fowles: Can the Prime Minister Prorogue Parliament to Deliver a No Deal Brexit?
In recent days certain government backbenchers have proposed a new avenue to deliver a “no deal” Brexit. As Sir Edward Leigh put it: “There are only two choices given the EU won’t change the deal and there’s no chance of parliament passing it. One is cancel Brexit: an intolerable denial of democracy. The…
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Eleni Frantziou: Administrative Formalities and Collective Disenfranchisement: The Situation of EU Citizens in the UK #DeniedaVote during the European Parliament Elections 2019
Political attention over the last few days has shifted towards the composition of the newly elected European Parliament, leaving largely to one side reports that EU citizens were denied a vote during the recent EP election in the UK. While the number of affected citizens remains unclear at the time of writing, the question of…