- Withdrawal Act: legally binding, international law, can't be unilaterally changed by the UK
- Political Declaration: not legally binding, can't be unilaterally changed by the UK
- EU (Withdrawal Act) Bill [WAB]: legally binding, domestic law, can be changed by the UK in future.
- Political Declaration: not legally binding, can't be unilaterally changed by the UK
- EU (Withdrawal Act) Bill [WAB]: legally binding, domestic law, can be changed by the UK in future.
Confusing, isn't it? Basically anything negotiated *with the EU* can't be modified without their consent.
Anything that relates only to implementing things negotiated with the EU in domestic law is under our control (in *theory* we could implement them badly or not at all).
Anything that relates only to implementing things negotiated with the EU in domestic law is under our control (in *theory* we could implement them badly or not at all).
Indeed, we could (again in theory) end up with UK domestic law at odds with what we'd agreed with the EU. But then we'd be in breach of an international treaty, which is *bad*.
So the WAB should reflect the WA. It *can* but doesn't have to reflect the PD, because the PD isn't legally binding. It can also go further than either, e.g. by putting restrictions on the UK's negotiating stance, so long as these don't contradict anything in the WA.
