06 February 2025
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. Continue reading >>
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06 May 2024
Unconstitutionality à l’Anglaise
After long and tortuous proceedings in Parliament, the Safety of Rwanda (Asylum and Immigration) Act 2024 finally received Royal Assent on Thursday 25 April. There are so many problems with the Act and they are so fundamental that there has been speculation that the courts might refuse to apply some of the Act’s provisions. In this blogpost, I suggest that aside from the ‘hard-line’ approach of striking down or disapplying the statute in whole or in part, the courts also have a ‘soft-line’ option of declaring its unconstitutionality without denying its status as binding law. I explain how such an intervention might fit into the constitutional tradition of the UK and what may make it attractive in the case at hand. Continue reading >>
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03 May 2024
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 >>15 January 2024
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. Continue reading >>
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11 November 2022
The Penultimate Chapter in the Case of Julian Assange
After almost four years under unchanged detention conditions in the high-security prison Belmarsh, Julian Assange is facing yet another challenge. The upcoming decision of the High Court of England and Wales might ultimately determine whether Julian Assange can be extradited to the United States where he would face up to 175 years in prison if convicted on all 18 charges. If the High Court concludes that the first-instance proceedings should not be reopened, legal recourse in the United Kingdom would be exhausted. Many voices are therefore pinning their hopes on the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR). Continue reading >>
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19 July 2022
The Bill of Rights Bill and the damages of UK’s unilateralism
Just a fortnight before the resignation of Prime Minister Boris Johnson, the UK Government published its draft Bill of Rights Bill, which seeks to repeal and amend the 1998 Human Rights Act which incorporated the ECHR into UK law (section 1(1) of the Bill). The Bill is an expression of a broader trend emerging in UK policies to unilaterally amend (or even avoid) international law commitments. Continue reading >>17 June 2022
The UK’s anti-legal populism
Calls for UK withdrawal from the ECHR are raised at fairly regular intervals in certain quarters of the Conservative party, but this week various members of the Government, including the Prime Minister. Reason for this was an interim measure by the European Court of Human Rights that stopped a deportation flight to Rwanda. It was entirely predictable that calls for UK withdrawal from the ECHR would resurface. Less predictable for many, are the implications this would hold for the EU-UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement. Continue reading >>15 June 2022
British Bare Necessities
In the latest episode of the Brexit saga, the United Kingdom government has published the Northern Ireland Protocol ('NIP') Bill, by which it seeks to unilaterally disapply large parts of the Protocol on Ireland/Northern Ireland to the 2019 Withdrawal Agreement (‘WA’) concluded between the UK and the European Union. The British government has shared a summary of its legal position, seeking to justify the NIP Bill on the basis of the doctrine of necessity. However, this justification seems to be a literal, if unconvincing, attempt to make a virtue of necessity. Continue reading >>11 November 2021
Die Versicherheitlichung und Kriminalisierung von Migration und Asyl in Großbritannien
Die 'Nationality and Borders Bill' stellt den Höhepunkt der zunehmend sicherheitsorientierten, kriminalisierten und feindlichen Haltung der britischen Regierung gegenüber Asyl und Migration dar. Der 11. September verfestigte den höchst zweifelhaften Zusammenhang zwischen Migration und Terrorismus, der noch heute von einigen in der Regierung hergestellt wird. In der Zwischenzeit hatte die britische Regierung jahrzehntelang eine restriktive Migrationspolitik und -praxis betrieben, die jetzt neue Extreme annimmt. Continue reading >>
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11 November 2021
The UK’s Securitisation and Criminalisation of Migration and Asylum
The Nationality and Borders Bill is the culmination of the UK government’s increasingly securitised, criminalised and hostile approach to asylum and migration. While 9/11 served to solidify the highly dubious nexus between migration and terrorism, the UK (alongside other destination states) has for decades been implementing restrictive migration policies and practices designed to deter and prevent asylum seekers and other migrants from reaching its territories and accessing safety. Continue reading >>
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