Getting Brexit Started – Does the General Election Result Change Johnson’s EU Strategy?

Now that Boris Johnson will be leading a government with a sizeable majority in the House of Commons, some degree of normality will return to British politics. That normality is that governments get to govern with little capacity for the Westminster Parliament to block the will of the Executive. Whatever happens on the Opposition side...

Is a Pledge of a Brexit Referendum within Six Months Credible?

The election on 12 December will require the political parties to set out their positions on Brexit. Already, Labour is pledging in its ‘Plan for Brexit’ that it will negotiate ‘a sensible deal within three months of being elected’. More dramatically, it also claims it will hold a further Brexit referendum within six months of...

Extension Time, Election Time – But is it Brexit Time?

For the third time, and in agreement with the UK, the EU has granted the UK an extension to its EU membership. But this extension feels different for two reasons. First, the extension offered by the EU was a response to a letter sent – but not signed – by the UK Prime Minister Boris...

Reincarnation and Resurrection – the Afterlife of the European Communities Act 1972 in the Withdrawal Bill

The UK Government has published its long-awaited European Union (Withdrawal Agreement) Bill (the “WAB”) that – if enacted – will give legal effect to the revised Withdrawal Agreement negotiated between the EU and the UK. The revised Agreement settles the terms of the UK’s departure from the EU in respect of citizens’ rights, the financial settlement...