What does it mean to “take (back) control” of a border?
14th November 2022 Brexit, we are told, was about “taking back control” – of our borders, our money, and our laws. Yet, if you read the news, it would seem the United Kingdom is less in control of its...
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Getting any quick international trade deal is easy, if you give in to the...
15th November 2022 There is one way to get a “quick win” international trade deal. That way is to just give in to what the other side want, but without gaining anything of equal value in return. It...
View ArticleHow three Bills now before Parliament tell us the story of Brexit
7th December 2022 Here is a story about three Bills. The Bills are not chaps called William, but legislative proposals placed before the Westminster parliament by the government of the United Kingdom....
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Today 71 Members of Parliament supported a Bill that would have allowed the...
14th December 2022 Earlier today, 71 Members of Parliament supported a Bill that would allow the government to send asylum seekers back to the countries from where they had most immediately come from,...
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How the government won but also lost the court case on Rwanda removal policy
19th December 2022 Today the High Court handed down its judgment in respect of the many legal claims brought against the Rwanda removal policy. On the face of it, the government of the United Kingdom...
View ArticleWill there be a deal on the Northern Irish Protocol? And what then?
14th February 2023 The negotiations for the final shape of Brexit continue, even though the United Kingdom departed the European Union three years ago. Of course: it would have been more sensible to...
View ArticleSovereignty, again
9th March 2023 In law and policy commentary – especially since 2016 – we go from the general to the particular, and from the particular to the general. We swing constantly between the grandest...
View ArticleThe failure of Brexit to return real power to Westminster: a worked example
16th March 2023 Yesterday this blog averred that Brexit so far has been about giving power to Whitehall than giving power to Westminster. Ministers since 2016 have been using the rhetoric of “taking...
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On yesterday’s Supreme Court judgment on the Rwanda policy
16th November 2023 Yesterday the Supreme Court handed down its appeal judgment in the Rwanda policy case. For an informed view on the case, it is worth taking the time to watch Lord Reed, the President...
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What is often left unsaid in complaints about pesky human rights law and...
15th December 2023 * Those criticising human rights law and lawyers often shy away from spelling out the substance of a particular right * You may or may not remember Abu Qatada and how he once...
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A close look at the law and policy of holding a Northern Ireland border poll...
10th February 2024 This week Prospect posted something by me on the issue of a potential border poll in Northern Ireland. Please click (and read!) here. This post unpacks that Prospect post – a sort...
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What explains the timing and manner of the Chagos Islands sovereignty deal?
20th October 2024 Towards resolving a puzzle about how and when the decision was announced * Perhaps the best place to start for a blogpost or any other writing is a sense of puzzlement. A thing does...
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