The UKCLA Blog
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Conference: The Future of Constitutional Reform in the United Kingdom
The public law team at the University of Manchester Law Department, in collaboration with the UK Constitutional Law Association (UKCLA), is holding a two-day conference on the topic of “The Future of Constitutional Reform in the United Kingdom” on Wednesday 20 and Thursday 21 May 2026 in Manchester, United Kingdom. The conference has two key…
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Tom Mullen and Charlie Peevers: A Legal Black Hole in UK Waters? The Case of the MV Bella 1
The Facts On 7 January, United States military forces, supported by British forces, intercepted the oil tanker originally known as the Bella 1, then renamed the Marinera, in the Atlantic Ocean south of Iceland. The ship was sailed towards the UK, arrived in the Moray Firth on 13 January and anchored there in UK territorial…
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Joe Tomlinson and Jed Meers: Will AI Create a Caseload Problem for Justice?
Why is demand important in justice? Justice systems are predominantly analysed in terms of the quality of justice they provide and their level of accessibility. However, justice systems, like all public institutions, operate under resource constraints and must allocate those resources efficiently to achieve the best possible outcomes. In practice, a perpetual challenge for justice…
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Rob Mullins: “Biological Sex”, Social Segregation, and the Freedom to Reassign Sex
Following the Supreme Court’s decision in For Women Scotland Ltd v The Scottish Ministers [2025] UKSC 16 (“FWS”), there has been much public debate about the lawfulness of policies adopted by employers and service providers that permit trans people to access toilets and changing room facilities in their acquired sex. To date, the issue of the lawfulness…
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Daniella Lock: In Defence of the Divisional Court’s Palestine Action Ruling
This post responds to important issues raised by Dane Luo and Gabriel Tan with regard to one of the grounds upheld by the Divisional Court in the judicial review of Palestine Action’s proscription (R (Ammori) v Home Secretary [2026] EWHC 292 (Admin)). The ground was upheld on the basis that the Home Secretary’s proscription decision considered…
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Announcement: Judicial Dialogue – Backsliding of the Rule of Law
The Global South Network (GSN) invites you to the third judicial dialogue titled “Backsliding of the Rule of Law” to be held online on Monday, 16 March 2026, at 16:00 EET (14:00 BST), as part of the Global South Network (GSN) Judges Guest Lecture Series. The guest speaker will be the Honourable Justice Kari Kuusiniemi, President of the Supreme Administrative Court…
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![Weronika Galka: Secret proceedings, (mal)administration, and the courts: RA and AA v SSFCDA, MZZ v SSD and SSHD and In the Matter of the SSD [2026] EWCA Civ 3](https://ukconstitutionallaw.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/galka-photo.jpg)
Weronika Galka: Secret proceedings, (mal)administration, and the courts: RA and AA v SSFCDA, MZZ v SSD and SSHD and In the Matter of the SSD [2026] EWCA Civ 3
In early January 2026, the Court of Appeal (Peter Jackson LJ, Elisabeth Laing LJ, and Jeremy Baker LJ) handed down the decision in R (RR and AA) v Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth, and Development Affairs [2026] EWCA Civ 3 (“RR and AA”). Brought by the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth, and Development Affairs (“SSFCDA”), the Secretary…
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Conor McCormick: The Attorney General and Residual Legal Accountability
Access to justice in public law contexts is mediated by several procedural rules, including standing and permission requirements, which reflect a concern to confine judicial review to cases that properly warrant the governmental costs of public law litigation. However, in addition to these universal checkpoints, which are a well-known feature of the judicial review terrain,…
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Ben Stanford: The Government’s Electoral Reform Proposals: Good Intentions, Unrealised Potential
The long-awaited Representation of the People Bill was laid before the House of Commons on 12 February 2026. This followed the Government’s earlier policy paper, “Restoring Trust in our Democracy”, published in July 2025, which outlined the Government’s bold aim to “usher in a new chapter in our democracy, reflecting our principles, and restoring faith…
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Dane Luo and Gabriel Tan: Non-Textual, Purposive Limits on Policy? The Divisional Court’s Errors on the Home Secretary’s Proscription Policy in the Palestine Action Judgment
On 13 February 2026, the Divisional Court (Dame Victoria Sharp PKBD, Swift and Steyn JJ) upheld the judicial review brought against the proscription of Palestine Action under the Terrorism Act 2000: R (Ammori) v Home Secretary [2026] EWHC 292 (Admin).The Court dismissed two grounds: failing to give Palestine Action the opportunity to make representations (ground…