Small Fry
Last week, the oral hearings in the EU-UK Sandeel case were concluded before the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague. This marks the first time in which a dispute between the EU and UK under the 2021 Trade and Co-operation agreement reaches the stage of arbitration, testing the post-Brexit legal framework in a case where the UK’s regulatory autonomy to adopt unilateral measures for the protection of the marine environment is pitted against the EU vessels’ right to access and fish in British waters.
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The UK Parliament, the UK-Rwanda Agreement and the CPTPP
On April 1, 2024, the Ponsonby Rule, the constitutional convention that set the standard for Parliament’s role in how the UK makes treaties, turned 100. But the procedure for Parliament’s involvement in treaty-making is no longer fit for purpose. As the UK-Rwanda and CPTPPP Agreements show, the UK Parliament’s role in treaty-making must be reformed. In particular, the House of Commons must obtain the power to have a formal vote on international agreements before they can become binding on the UK.
Continue reading >>Legislating fiction
Members of Parliament in the UK will on 16 and 17 January 2024 debate the Safety of Rwanda (Asylum and Immigration) Bill, which ‘gives effect to the judgement of Parliament that the Republic of Rwanda is a safe country’ for asylum-seekers. The Supreme Court unanimously ruled in November 2023 that Rwanda was manifestly not safe as asylum seekers sent to the country would face a real risk of ill-treatment due to insufficient guarantees against refoulement. The Bill thus aims to use law to determine a factual situation for as long as the law is in force. This blog discusses the risks inherent in creating such a ‘legal fiction’ and how the Bill could be revised to mitigate this risk, before assessing the chances of it becoming law in the currently turbulent political context.
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