UK in CJEU
EU judges are to rule on whether the British security services can carry out surveillance on terrorist suspects without further safeguards to protect privacy.
UN & the UK
The UN Economic Commission for Europe is expected to criticise the UK over its failure to comply with rules ensuring access to justice in judicial reviews over environmental matters.
The UN Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities has reported on the UK, finding that Britain is failing to meet its obligations, and reportedly stating that the Government’s treatment of disabled people is a ‘human catastrophe’.
UNA-UK have written an article considering what might happen to the UK’s permanent seat at the UN Security Council if Scotland were to become independent.
Evaluation of UK’s international obligations
According to legal experts and reported on in The Independent, Theresa May’s plans to remove Britain from the single market without giving other EEA countries twelve months’ notice could result in a legal challenge.
According to memos recently declassified and released from the National Archives, in the build-up to the 1990 Gulf War, ministers and civil servants scrambled to ensure Britain’s arms manufacturers could take advantage of the anticipated rise in orders for military hardware, seeing Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait as an “unparalleled opportunity” to sell arms to Gulf states.
Professor Geraldine Van Bueren QC has argued that, in the wake of the Grenfell Tower fire, through considering the ECHR case law on linking the right to life and housing, the inquiry into the tragedy by Sir Martin Moore-Bick could find that the UK Government is in breach of ECHR, art 2: the right to life.
A written statement by Amnesty International has set out concerns in relation to UK corporate criminal liability laws and the Trafigura case, whilst the organisation welcomes the report of the Special Rapporteur on the implications for human rights of the environmentally sound management and disposal of hazardous substances and wastes.
UK’s post-Brexit relationship with the EU
Stating that there is an enormous number of issuesneeding to be settled before the EU will move onto the trade deal phase of the UK-EU future relationship, Commission President Juncker has stated that none of the Government’s Brexit policy papers were ‘satisfactory’. Meanwhile EU’s chief negotiator Michael Barnier has warned the UK to start negotiating ‘seriously’ and EU diplomats who were briefed by a senior UK official have stated that the promise of greater clarity on Brexit bill is not being kept by London. However, the UK negotiating team is reportedly exasperated by what it considers to be an inflexible approach by Brussels.
British negotiators have reportedly asked EU officials about the legal principlesBrussels believes should be used to calculate exit bill, seeking legal clarification over the settlement. Meanwhile Liam Fox has insisted the UK will not be “blackmailed” into paying an excessive amount for its ‘divorce bill’ from the EU.
John Connolly, for the LSE Brexit Blog, has argued that the impact of Brexit on management of cross-border threats within the EU and the implications for the UK’s influence on relevant EU policy-making must be given more attention.
Analysis in the Financial Times suggests that British politicians are finally beginning to make decisions regarding Brexit, for example Labour’s announcement of a desire for the UK to remain part of all EU economic structures in the interim period.
Michel Barnier, the EU’s Brexit negotiator has said he sees the process as an opportunity to “teach” the British people and others what leaving the single market means. However he has stated that the UK appears to be going backwards on agreeing a Brexit financial settlement.
With pro-EU Tories threatening to join Labour’s attempt to move against a key part of the withdrawal bill, Damien Green has warned that they must back Brexit or risk a Corbyn Government. Meanwhile Chris Grayling has stated that Labour’s actions were disappointing and disrupting the bill’s passage through parliament would lead to a “legal vacuum” when the UK left the EU in March 2019. However the disaffected Tory MPs have concerns over May’s use of Henry VIII powers in the bill.
Labour has decided to whip its MPs to vote against the repeal bill following agreement at the shadow cabinet meeting, calling it a ‘huge power grab’ in debate. By contrast, pro-Brexit, Eurosceptic MPs have seized on the impasse in negotiations to argue again for no deal with the EU, stating that the UK can thrive regardless. However David Davis has now stated he will consider giving Parliament greater oversight of the EU withdrawal as he seeks to head off a centrist Tory rebellion and it appears likely that Theresa May will be forced into an early tactical retreat over the bill.
Brexit Secretary David Davis has rejected reports that the UK will offer to pay £50bn as a divorce bill to the EU in order to begin trade talks in October, calling them ‘nonsense’. Meanwhile he has stated that the ‘divorce bill’ talks could continue throughout the Brexit negotiations.
Janice Morphet for the LSE Brexit Blog has argued that, post-Brexit, the OECD could replace the EU in playing a major role in shaping the UK’s public policy.
The Guardian has published a leaked Home Office document on the UK’s post-Brexit immigration policy, which Europe’s media commentators have condemned, variously describing the plan as an extension of Donald Trump’s immigration policies, a desperate project that would hurt the UK economy and jeopardise Brexit talks, and a sign the British are heading for self-imposed isolation.
A 100-strong pro-Brexit group of Conservative MPs has stated that there is no legal or moral basis for the UK to pay a divorce bill to the EU, and that in fact the EU could owe the UK €10bn for its share of the European Investment Bank. Meanwhile pro-leave MPs are preparing to launch a public fightback against a soft Brexit, gathering signatures for a letter insisting Britain must be “well and truly out” of the EU to be published on Sunday. However Tory MPs have urged Theresa May to sack frontbenchers who supported the Brexit letter, arguing that this breached collective Government responsibility.
According to EU sources, Theresa May has rejected an invitation to address the European parliament in public to explain her Brexit position, instead insisting she will only talk to its leaders behind closed doors.
No Comments