Brexit

A deal was done

After months of negotiations, on Christmas Eve the UK Government and European Union finally reached an agreement over the terms of a Trade and Cooperation Agreement. The government published a summary explainer and the European Commission published a table showing the main consequences and benefits. See also this even simpler guide tweeted by Robert Peston:

They also concluded an Agreement on Nuclear Cooperation (NCA) and an Agreement on Security Procedures for Exchanging and Protecting Classified Information.

The following week, the European Union (Future Relationship) Act 2020, enabling the UK Government to implement and ratify those agreements, was debated and passed in a single day, on 30 December, and received the Royal Assent on New Year’s Eve, just in time for “E-day” on 1 January 2021. …

A bookplate, or printed “ex libris” label, was for a long time the widely recognised way of not only marking the volumes in a library, but also announcing to the world that a book’s owner was a person of some substance — sufficient, at any rate, to own a library.

Their earliest use can be dated back to 15th century Germany, with the dawn of printing providing a mechanism both for the manufacture of books in substantial print runs, and also for the printing of labels to put in them. …

This week’s roundup of legal news and commentary includes vaccination, legislation, regulation, litigation, explanation and, hopefully, the prospect of some ultimate relaxation.

Coronavirus

Vaccine approved

The approval and the commencement of a programme to administer a Covid vaccine will have implications for all aspects of life, including the restrictions on social and commercial life which various iterations of the legally-enforced lockdown have imposed. While the current restrictions seem likely to continue, there is the prospect of future relaxation, which currently give more grounds for optimism than the stalled and stumbling Brexit negotiations.

The excellent Law & Religion UK blog in its latest roundup discusses some of the ethical issues that can arise in respect of the way the vaccines have been developed, and the use of churches as vaccination stations. …

Brexit

Negotiations for future trading relationship with EU—deal or no deal — talks going down to the wire — fish or no fish —eleventh hour —moving of goalposts on level playing field —last minute deal— die in a ditch —governance arrangements — victory salvaged from the jaws of defeat — cont p 94

UK-EU future relationship: Can a deal be reached in time? asked the House of Commons Library briefing back in September. At that time the EU was saying the deadline for concluding talks was the end of October…

“Perhaps some form of agreement will yet emerge from the tortuous future negotiation talks” says Obiter J, in Law and Lawyers: Brexit…

UK Politics

Spending review

The Ministry of Justice has announced that “almost £4.4 bn will be invested to increase court capacity, create prison places, and support victims” following the latest spending review by the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Rishi Sunak.

This largesse is not unwelcome, but it may not have been distributed to all the parts of the system that need it. For example, “an extra £4 billion will be provided over the next four years to make significant progress in delivering 18,000 additional prison places”. This is great, though existing prison places are desperately in need of improvement and refurbishment (and to be fair, £315m is promised “to enhance the condition of the existing prison estate”); but even when you’ve got all those prison places, how are you going to fill them? You need courts, and you need lawyers and judges in those courts. So while the announcement talks of “£337m extra funding [to] support the government’s crime agenda — delivering swift and effective justice to convict offenders, support victims, and protect the wider public”, what this amounts to in more detail is “£275 million to manage the impact of 20,000 additional police officers and reduce backlogs caused by the pandemic by increasing capacity in courts, particularly the Crown Court”. There’s also £76m promised towards increasing capacity in the Family Court and Employment Tribunal. There’s no mention of legal aid, however, or of increasing judicial sitting days, both of which will be necessary if any increased capacity in the criminal courts is to be beneficial. Moreover the boosting of capacity in both civil and criminal courts follows a long period of unprecedented court closures; a bit like the often-trumpeted recruitment of 20,000 police officers, which again followed a period of years during which numbers were substantially reduced. …

This week’s roundup of legal news and commentary includes war crimes, election claims, and a decline in standards of public conduct, among other gloomy matters. But there’s some good news as well, and a lovely autumnal image from a barrister’s run.

Politics

Standards in public life

During a week in which the conduct of government has come under more than usually harsh scrutiny, Lord Evans, Chair of the Committee on Standards in Public Life, gave the Hugh Kay Lecture at the Institute of Business Ethics. …

Brexit

Deal or no deal?

With superSPAD Cummings finally going, and hints of a reshuffle not just among the admin staff, media sources and string-pullers behind the scenes at No 10 but in the Cabinet as well, we enter the final furlong (or 201.168 metres) of the negotiations for a trade deal with the EU before the end of the transition period. David Frost remains the shuttle at our end of the loom, but the tapestry could still unravel unless the last few threads are finally tied up. According to The Brussels Times:

“The United Kingdom must retain control of its laws, trade and water after its withdrawal from the European Union and will not budge on these issues, London’s Chief Negotiator, David Frost, warned on Sunday ahead of a new cycle of talks in Brussels on the future relationship with the EU.” …

Politics

Election fever goes viral

Last week, as a second national lockdown took effect in England, many of those confined to working or staying at home spent the time watching and waiting for results from the US Presidential Election. There was widespread coverage and discussion online, some of it moderate, some moderated, much of it hyperbolic. On his Twitter feed the incumbent President Trump claimed victory before any announcement had been made, and then complained that announcements of his defeat had been made prematurely: he has vowed to continue his fight for re-election via challenges in the courts. …