header-logo header-logo

Home Login E-newsletter About us

The UK Internal Market Bill: Yea for the House of Lords

© Copyright LexisNexis 2025. All Rights Reserved.
08 January 2021 / Michael Zander KC
Issue: 7915 / Categories: Features , Brexit , EU , Constitutional law
printer mail-detail
34762
Michael Zander on the last stages of the UK Internal Market Bill

The parliamentary debates on the United Kingdom Internal Market Bill came to a surprising harmonious ending on the evening of Tuesday 15 December.

The purpose of the Bill, as its title indicates, is to regulate the UK single market after the ending of the Brexit transition period. Most of the many hours both Houses spent debating the Bill were devoted to two topics. One was Part 5 of the Bill with its notorious clauses 44, 45 and 47 allowing ministers to issue regulations that the Government admitted would be in breach of international law. Part 5 of the Bill provoked uproar.

On November 9, the House of Lords, led by former Lord Chief Justice Lord Judge, voted to remove the whole of Part 5 by the crushing majority of 433 to 165. The 44 Conservative peers who voted against the Government included the Party’s former Leader, Lord Howard of Lympne,

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

Read All
Sponsored by
Pillsbury—Lord Garnier KC

Pillsbury—Lord Garnier KC

Appointment of former Solicitor General bolsters corporate investigations and white collar practice

Hall & Wilcox—Nigel Clark

Hall & Wilcox—Nigel Clark

Firm strengthens international strategy with hire of global relations consultant

Slater Heelis—Sylviane Kokouendo & Shazia Ashraf

Slater Heelis—Sylviane Kokouendo & Shazia Ashraf

Partner and associate join employment practice

NEWS
Read All
NLJ this week: Law Society calls for clarity on AML
The government’s plan to introduce a Single Professional Services Supervisor could erode vital legal-sector expertise, warns Mark Evans, president of the Law Society of England and Wales, in NLJ this week
NLJ this week: Turning corporate liability into opportunity
Writing in NLJ this week, Jonathan Fisher KC of Red Lion Chambers argues that the ‘failure to prevent’ model of corporate criminal responsibility—covering bribery, tax evasion, and fraud—should be embraced, not resisted
NLJ this week: A prince no more?
Professor Graham Zellick KC argues in NLJ this week that, despite Buckingham Palace’s statement stripping Andrew Mountbatten Windsor of his styles, titles and honours, he remains legally a duke
NLJ this week: Shareholder secrecy sunk
Writing in NLJ this week, Sophie Ashcroft and Miranda Joseph of Stevens & Bolton dissect the Privy Council’s landmark ruling in Jardine Strategic Ltd v Oasis Investments II Master Fund Ltd (No 2), which abolishes the long-standing 'shareholder rule'
NLJ this week: The expanding remit of national security law
In NLJ this week, Sailesh Mehta and Theo Burges of Red Lion Chambers examine the government’s first-ever 'Afghan leak' super-injunction—used to block reporting of data exposing Afghans who aided UK forces and over 100 British officials. Unlike celebrity privacy cases, this injunction centred on national security. Its use, the authors argue, signals the rise of a vast new body of national security law spanning civil, criminal, and media domains
Copyright © 2025 LexisNexis
back-to-top-scroll