header-logo header-logo

16 May 2019 / Simon Parsons
Issue: 7840 / Categories: Features , Constitutional law , Brexit , EU
printer mail-detail

Brexit & retained devolved EU law

Simon Parsons reports on another constitutional crisis which could be brewing after Brexit

  • In 2018, the Supreme Court ruled that the passing of the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018 prevented the Scottish government enacting its own legislation to close post-Brexit gaps in the law.
  • This judgment confirmed Westminster’s unrestrained legislative competence throughout the UK and the devolved legislatures are subordinate to it.
  •  

    In 2018, the Welsh government and the Scottish government issued the Law Derived from the European Union (Wales) Bill and the UK Withdrawal from the European Union (Legal Continuity) (Scotland) Bill respectively, the purpose of which was the same as Westminster’s EU Withdrawal Bill; ie to convert or transpose directly applicable EU law relating to Wales and Scotland into Scottish and Welsh domestic law, and by preserving the Welsh and Scottish legislation that implements EU law which is not directly applicable. The aim was to avoid legislative gaps in the law after Brexit. This is known as retained devolved EU law. The subordinate legislatures issued

    If you are not a subscriber, subscribe now to read this content
    If you are already a subscriber sign in
    ...or Register for two weeks' free access to subscriber content

    MOVERS & SHAKERS

    Osbornes Law—Alex McMahon, Andrew Middlehurst & Harriet McMorrin

    Osbornes Law—Alex McMahon, Andrew Middlehurst & Harriet McMorrin

    Homegrown hat-trick: Osbornes Law promotes three former trainees to partner

    mfg Solicitors—Sarah Bradford

    mfg Solicitors—Sarah Bradford

    Partner arrival boosts law firm’s growing real estate team

    Freeths—David Smith

    Freeths—David Smith

    Freeths secures major tax hire with appointment of David Smith

    NEWS
    The Supreme Court has clarified the scope of a director’s duty, in a case where a chairman’s good intentions went awry due to the pandemic
    Digital fraud is ‘baffling policymakers, investigators, prosecutors and enforcers’, leaving ‘a massive justice gap’, the author of a government-commissioned independent review has warned
    Richard Lloyd’s independent review of the Legal Services Board (LSB) has delivered a devastating verdict, accusing the super-regulator of having ‘lost its way in recent years’
    The House of Commons has passed the Hillsborough Law, in a historic achievement for campaigners, survivors and families of those who died in the 1989 stadium collapse
    Judicial statistics show a steady rise in the number of female judges and Asian and mixed ethnicity judges in the past ten years—however, progress in terms of representation has stalled for both Black lawyers and for solicitors
    back-to-top-scroll