Lord Keen of Elie QC, Advocate General for Scotland & Ministry of Justice spokesman in Lords, giving evidence to EU Security & Justice Committee on EU Cooperation on civil justice & family law after Brexit parliamentlive.tv/Event/Index/e2…
Keen says the government is adhering to the rule in the Internal Market Bill. He says the proposition that the Bill breaks international law is not correct. He's concerned that it has coloured so much of debate in last few days.
Keen said that in stating that the government would be breaching international law, Brandon Lewis answered the wrong question and as a consequence, the whole matter has been taken out of context.
Questioned later on his opening remarks re Brandon Lewis answering wrong question re Internal Market Bill, Keen draws analogy with the scenario were I go into bank & take £1,000 off the table & leave - that's in breach of law. But ...
... if you omitted that fact I handed over a signed check drawn on a solvent account you get a completely different impression. Keen says we have that situation here.
Keen says Bill not breach treaty or international law. In theory it could have that effect, but that's not its purpose – purpose is to address UK’s remedies under int law in absence of good faith by EU or if EU’s behaviour fundamentally changes obligations under protocol.
We hope these eventualities never emerge, but we have to prepare ourselves to deal with them - we can't reach the 11th hour to conjure up primary legislation to deal with s7(a) of withdrawal act.
These are contingent powers, and we will only do this if it's absolutely necessary & in doing it we will present the regs to parliament with an explanation as to why we require them.
Keen says he can't comment on whether the BBC was wrong in reporting today that Brandon Lewis's precise words were cleared through the government machine.
Justice minister Lord Keen has offered to resign -- see earlier tweets from yesterday where he tries to grapple with the fact that a member of cabinet admitted the government was going to break the law. bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotla…
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Went to Old Bailey this morning & saw 300 striking barristers (with solicitors) in protest over government's underfunding of criminal legal aid. I lacked the skills (& phone battery) to take pictures, take notes & do lots of posts, so here's a thread.
Big cheer from striking @TheCriminalBar barristers protesting outside Old Bailey when @RMTunion arrive in support and rallying cry ‘up the workers’. One bewigged barrister peaks out from inside the court to see what all the noise is.
"This is a government that believes in market forces – this is how it works. If you don't pay people a living wage they will walk, not because they want to but because they have no choice," @JoSidhuQC, @TheCriminalBar chair
Just been asked to do a short pre-recorded piece for @BBCBreakfast on why criminal barristers are striking. Obviously, I'm super keen & asked the fee (would take about 20 mins prep - mostly sorting out my hair & panicking + 10 mins to do). Told there is no fee.
I explain that I'm a freelance journalist, this is my job. I'm not asking for same fees as @GaryLineker or @thehuwedwards -- just something fair for half an hour's work. Nice chap accepts that he isn't working for free, but says there's no budget & no fee.
I'd be delighted to go on tv to talk about the strike. After years as a hack, I won't starve without a tiny fee. But, I'm afraid I said no on principle - if I agree to work for free, other younger journalists, who cannot afford to work for nothing, may obliged to work for free.
Thrilled to see that four of my pieces in the fabulous series commissioned by @AlfiePackham for @GdnStudents feature in the top 10 most popular Law stories today.
Huge thanks to @AlfiePackham for commissioning this series of Landmarks in the Law for @GdnStudents, and all the lawyers who helped me. I thoroughly enjoyed doing it & hope it's given a taste of the world of the law. The last one was published today. Here's a thread of the set:
R v Brown:
“It is not the state’s business to sentence people to multiple years in prison for consensual sex.” -- Eleanor Sharpston QC (@akulith) theguardian.com/law/2021/feb/1…
Lord chancellor, @RobertBuckland, giving evidence to Commons committee on human rights, on government’s plans to ‘update’ human rights act, judicial review and plans to reform the Supreme Court. You can watch it here: parliamentlive.tv/Event/Index/c2…
I should say, I'm not going to tweet all of his evidence, but only if he says something new and interesting.
Asked about terms of ref, timescale & process for review of HRA, Buckland says he can't answer, as not agreed yet. He says chair & panel will be independent, & will include diversity of thought from all 4 nations of UK.
Mark Lucraft QC, chief coroner since October 2016 (and recorder of London - top judge at the Old Bailey - since April 2020), is giving evidence to @CommonsJustice now: parliamentlive.tv/Event/Index/fb…
Lucraft says its been a busy 4 years with the Westminster Bridge, Borough Market, and Manchester Arena attacks and Grenfell Tower fire. But says most of coroners' work, where deaths do not lead to inquests, is not seen by the public.