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16 September 2020 / Khawar Qureshi KC
Issue: 7902 / Categories: Opinion , Brexit , Constitutional law
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An overarching duty to comply with the law?

27505
The UK Internal Market Bill: ‘Minor clarifications’ and the Rule of Law. Khawar Qureshi QC tracks events in Parliament so far this month

The astonishing admission on 8 September 2020 by the Conservative Government through the Northern Ireland Secretary Brandon Lewis, that it was seeking to adopt legislation which would (if enacted) violate International Law, albeit engaging in the now (sadly) characteristic sophistry by adding ‘only in a specific and limited way’ to effect ‘minor clarifications", should be seen for what it is - continuation of the destructive trend towards unilateralism and erosion of trust in the rules based system.

On 19 October 2019, Boris Johnson described the Withdrawal Agreement (the Treaty) which he signed on behalf of the UK as ‘an excellent deal’ which would ‘take this country and the whole of Europe forward’.

On 23 January 2020 the EU Withdrawal Act (the Act), Section 7A thereof sought to give domestic effect to the Treaty, specifically by the means set out in Article 4 of

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NEWS
The Attorney General, Ellie Reeves KC MP, and Solicitor General, Andy Slaughter KC MP, marked the 25th anniversary of Pro Bono Week by joining lawyers, charities, students and parliamentarians at events celebrating voluntary legal work
Witness evidence can be compromised by AI before a solicitor sees the draft, leaving safeguards focused on authorship incomplete
Possession claims are entering a new digital era, with procedural traps awaiting practitioners who assume familiar rules still govern every step
A polished legal defence may owe more to artificial intelligence than legal merit—and creditors risk paying the price in delay and expense
An indemnity costs battle with a £20m gap could reopen an important question: what weight should an approved budget carry?
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