Brexit and Data Protection: The Tale of the Data Protection Bill and UK-EU Data Transfers

Elif Mendos Kuşkonmaz, PhD student at Queen Mary, University of London[*]

Introduction

A Bosnian folk song tells the death of a severely ill Ottoman Pasha. After hearing of the Pasha’s death, his wife also passes away from sorrow. Now that the UK voted to leave the European Union (EU) on 23 June 2016, will data protection laws also pass away from sorrow after the UK leaves the EU?

The Data Protection Act 1998 (DPA), which is the UK’s current key regulatory regime for data protection, implements the EU’s Data Protection Directive of 1995 into the UK national law. This Directive is replaced by the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) adopted in April 2016, which introduces a task force (European Data Protection Board), new responsibilities for data controllers and processors, and new rights for data subjects such as right to transfer data from one server to another and right to be forgotten. All EU Member States have to transpose this Regulation by 25 May 2018 (before the UK is due to leave the EU). Accompanying the GDPR, a new Directive in relation to data protection in the field of police and justice sectors was also introduced at the EU level. This Directive creates a comprehensive framework for data processing activities performed for the prevention, investigation, detection or prosecution of criminal offences or the execution of criminal penalties, including the safeguarding against and the prevention of threats to public security. All EU Member States have to transpose this Directive into their national laws by 6 May 2018.

As an EU regulation, the GDPR will be directly applicable in the UK without the need for an Act of Parliament from 25 May 2018 forwards as the UK is expected to leave the EU officially some point after March 2019 and its EU membership continues until then. Still, there exists some provisions under the GDPR that Member States can adapt in their national laws such as permitted derogations from data protection principles (Article 23 on derogations from transparency obligations and data subject rights for purposes of national security, defence, public security etc., and Articles 85-91 on derogations for specific data processing situations such as necessary for freedom of expression, employee data, and scientific and historical research purposes). So, in anticipation of dealing with these issues, first, a statement of intent was published by the UK Government on 7 August 2017 as a form of commitment to the GDPR. Then, the Data Protection Bill was introduced to the House of Lords on 13 September 2017. (Also, see here for the House of Lords’ report on Brexit and data protection). This Bill will replace the Data Protection Act 1998, and will regulate the areas where the UK has competence to do so such as the permitted derogations mentioned above and areas that fall outside the scope of the GDPR like data processing for law enforcement purposes or for national security interests. So, in light of these recent developments, it is clear that the data protection in the UK will not experience an immediate death.

The Data Protection Bill in a nutshell

As a whole, the Data Protection Bill contains the general definitions under the GDPR and the derogations from data protection principles provided under it. These derogations include data processing for journalism, for research, and by employees under certain conditions.

It also covers the areas that are not covered by the GDPR. The first area is the data processing in the context of law enforcement (Part 3 of the Data Protection Bill), which is in fact covered by the Data Protection Directive on processing of personal data for law enforcement purposes (the ‘Law Enforcement Directive’). Unlike the GPDR, this Directive is not directly applicable in the UK.

Therefore, with the inclusion of the data processing by competent public authorities in relation to law enforcement purposes, the Data Protection Bill transposes the Law Enforcement Directive into UK law. It is said that the principles for such processing resembles the 2014 Regulations, through which the UK transposed the previous EU data protection rules for data processing in the context of law enforcement. On the basis of the broad definition of a competent authority for data processing under the Bill, data can be processed not only by criminal justice agencies in the UK, but also other organisations with law enforcement functions such as such as Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs, the Health and Safety Executive and the Office of the Information Commissioner. The competent authority definition under the Law Enforcement Directive provides for such broad definition (Article 3(7) of the Law Enforcement Directive). Another area that is covered by the Bill and not by the GDPR is data processing for intelligence services (Part 4 of the Data Protection Bill). It is said that the provisions on this processing are based upon the Council of Europe’s Convention on automatic processing of data (Convention 108) and changes which are being made to that Convention [note 40 of the Explanatory Notes for the Data Protection Bill]. This part of the Bill is complementary to the other legislation in relation to intelligence services such as the Investigatory Powers Act 2016 (discussed below) [note 47], and therefore constantly refers to this legislation. It also provides for national security exemptions for certain provisions it sets forth for data processing by intelligence services (Chapter 6 of the Part 4 of the Data Protection Bill).

Consequently, when the Data Protection Bill receives Royal Assent (in principle, in May 2018 on the same day the GPDR is due to be applicable) the GDPR, which will be converted to UK law with the EU (Withdrawal) Bill upon Brexit, has to read alongside the Data Protection Bill. For references in the GDPR such as ‘Union law’ and ‘Member State law’ that will be no longer relevant after Brexit, Schedule 6 of the Data Protection Bill introduces amendments.

The Data Protection Bill has received both positive and negative comments. The positive ones hinged on the relief it has brought to data controllers based in the UK. That said, it is argued that the Bill contains some complex and legally questionable provisions, like this sentence: ‘Terms used in Chapter 2 and in the GDPR have the same meaning in Chapter 2 as they have in the GDPR’ (Section 4). Or this sentence: ‘GDPR applies to the processing of personal data to which this Chapter applies but as if its Articles were part of an Act extending to England and Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland’ (Section 20(1)). Nevertheless, the second reading of the Data Protection Bill in the House of Lords is due on 10 October 2017 and there might be further changes to it before it becomes law.

What is at stake for the future of UK-EU cross-border data transfer after Brexit?

For the importance of the UK-EU cross-border data transfers the numbers speak for themselves. 43% of EU tech companies are based in the UK and 75% of the UK’s data transfers are with the EU Member States. It is for this reason that the UK Government has consistently referred to the importance of maintaining the data flow between the UK and the EU after Brexit [note 8.38]. However, even if one assumes that the Data Protection Bill successfully aligns UK law with the EU data protection framework, this does not mean that the Bill is a panacea for the future of this flow post-Brexit. This point was also accepted by the UK Government in their position paper on the exchange and protection of personal data after Brexit [note 4]. Upon the UK’s exit from the EU, the UK will be considered as a third country within the meaning of the abovementioned framework and any data transfer from the EU to there will have to comply with the rules on data transfer to a third country under the same framework.

Like the Data Protection Directive of 1995, the GDPR allows for transfer of personal data outside the EU/EEA, for instance if the European Commission decides that third country to which data are transferred ensures an ‘adequate level of protection’ for those data (Article 45 of the GDPR) or if the UK businesses (either as data processors or controllers) individually adopt other adequacy mechanisms such as standard contractual clauses and binding corporate rules (Articles 46 and 47 of the GDPR). In its position paper on the exchange and protection of personal data after Brexit, the UK Government referred to the Article 45 adequacy finding and mentioned that the future UK-EU data transfers could built upon this adequacy model [paras. 22, 32-41]. Moreover, it noted that the UK should be found as compliant with EU data protection framework as it introduced the Data Protection Bill, which implemented the GDPR and the Law Enforcement Directive [ibid, para. 23]. As discussed below, achieving a positive adequacy decision for the UK is not as uncontentious as the UK Government think it is.

At the outset, the UK should be found to afford an adequate level of data protection, which was defined in the CJEU’s Schrems decision (discussed here) as ‘essentially equivalent’ data protection to that of afforded under EU law. The crux of this decision is that in the Court’s view, US law failed to offer that level of protection because it included expansive national security derogations for the use of personal data by the US intelligence agency, which in turn meant that EU citizens were stripped of their privacy and data protection rights once their data reached the shores of the US under the then valid Safe Harbour principles scheme. It is evident from this decision that the activities of intelligence agency of a third country with respect to personal data transferred from the EU comes under the scrutiny of the European Commission in its quest for an adequacy decision for that country. Indeed, the GDPR requires the European Commission to consider a wide array of issues such as the rule of law, respect for fundamental rights, and legislation on national security, public security, and criminal law in that country (Article 45(2) of the GDPR). So, the UK Government’s assumption that the implementation of the GDPR will suffice for a positive adequacy finding for the UK is false because UK laws on data processing by intelligence agencies’ for national security purposes will come under the scrutiny of the European Commission.

Regretfully, the surveillance practices of UK intelligence services may imperil a positive adequacy decision. The discussions surrounding the Investigatory Powers Act (IPA), and its predecessor the Data Retention and Investigatory Act 2014 (DRIPA) is illustrative in this matter. The latter Act provided for the storage of telecommunications’ data for later to be used by police and security agencies. Following the CJEU’s Digital Rights Ireland decision (discussed here) finding practices of indiscriminate data retention in the context of fight against terrorism and transnational crime incompatible with EU fundamental rights of privacy and data protection, the DRIPA was challenged in the joined cases of Tele2 and Watson before the CJEU on the ground that it provided for such practices, and thus violated the mentioned rights. Consequently, the CJEU found the DRIPA unlawful as the data retention scheme established under it exceeded the limits of what is strictly necessary and was not justified. (See here for Prof Lorna Woods’s take on the Tele2 and Watson decision).

The IPA, which took the place of DRIPA, retains the contested provisions of the DRIPA, and in some situations provides for more controversial data processing. For example, the IPA provides for the retention of telecommunications data for preventing or detecting crime or preventing disorder (Article 87(1) of the IPA), which does not comply with the CJEU’s finding in Tele2 and Watson that ‘only the objective of fighting serious crime is capable of justifying such access to the retained data [para. 172]’. Therefore, the IPA sits at odds with the CJEU’s finding in Tele2 and Watson.

In fact, a legal challenge to the IPA in this matter has already been brought before the UK High Court by the UK based civil liberties organisation Liberty. Equally relevant is that Investigatory Powers Tribunal referred the question on the compatibility of the acquisition and use of bulk communications data under s.94 of the Telecommunications Act 1984 with EU law to the CJEU. (See here for Matthew White’s review on the matter).

Here, the status of the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights (Charter) and the jurisdiction of the CJEU after Brexit requires further attention. The EU (Withdrawal) Bill provides that pre-Brexit case-law of the CJEU stays binding after Brexit with certain exceptions (Clause 6. When departing from pre-Brexit case-law of the CJEU, the Supreme Court must apply the same test it applies when deciding whether to depart from its own case law, and Parliament or the executive can override that prior CJEU case law). However, the EU (Withdrawal) Bill in its current form excludes the Charter (Clause 5(4)), and puts an end to the jurisdiction of the CJEU (Clause 6) after Brexit. Still, this does not mean that the UK can ignore the decisions of CJEU given after Brexit because the EU data protection framework, which the European Commission will refer to when considering the adequacy question, will be interpreted in light of those decisions. The UK Government, on the other hand, seems to sweep these issues under the carpet in its post-Brexit paper because neither the discussions surrounding the IPA nor the case-law of the Charter after Brexit were mentioned in its position paper on the exchange and protection of personal data. Only when dealing with the UK-EU model of data exchange, it referred that such model should ‘respect UK sovereignty, including the UK’s ability to protect the security of its citizens and its ability to maintain and develop its position as a leader in data protection [note 22.] This statement might be read as a reference to the IPA, or any future law on surveillance practices and the end of the direct jurisdiction of the CJEU.

Alternatives to the adequacy finding under Article 45 of the GDPR include subjecting the data transfers to safeguards under Article 46, which include Binding Corporate Rules under Article 47. The Government already noted that these alternatives are not its primary target due to their limited scope [Annex A]. Still, as the ongoing challenge against the standard contractual clause scheme for data transfers under the Data Protection Directive of 1995 shows, neither alternative is immune from a legal challenge before the CJEU.

One might ask whether all these will be relevant for the data transfer during the transitional period should there be a transitional period after Brexit. The short answer is: yes, they will be. Despite the UK Government’s discontent, if the transitional period is based on the UK’s joining of the European Economic Area (EEA) and the European Free Trade Association (EFTA)– the so-called Norway option-, the data will continue to flow from the EU without an adequacy decision by way of retaining the GDPR as parts of UK law after Brexit since the GDPR has EEA relevance (ie, non-EU EEA states will apply the GDPR as such).

Other than that, the UK may seek to conclude a transitional agreement as part of the Article 50 negotiations, as indicated in the Prime Minister’s recent Florence speech (discussed here). That agreement will not be immune from the adequacy requirements discussed above because it will have to match the EU standards, and particularly the EU data protection framework and its rules on data transfers.

Data Protection in the field of police and justice sectors

As mentioned above, the UK aims to transpose the Law Enforcement Directive in to UK law with the Data Protection Bill. Yet, as in the case of GDPR, maintaining the data exchange between law enforcement authorities in the UK and in the EU will not be undisputed upon Brexit.

Any obstacle to this data exchange after Brexit has been considered as a gift for criminals and as a threat for public safety. So, it should not come as a surprise that the UK Government highlighted the importance of facilitating this data exchange for cross-border law enforcement cooperation in its position paper on security, law enforcement, and criminal justice [note 21]. Just like the GDPR, the Data Protection Directive on law enforcement requires an adequate level of data protection standards for data transfers to a third country (Article 36 of the Law Enforcement Directive). So, any future agreement between the EU and the UK on law enforcement information exchange would have to comply with these standards. The UK Government voiced its intention to ‘build on’ the adequacy scheme for the future of data exchange for law enforcement. Still, it was of the opinion that the implementation of the Law Enforcement Directive through the introduction of the Data Protection Bill is enough for the UK to secure a positive adequacy decision. I discussed earlier the scope of the adequacy assessment and the matters that may affect the likelihood of securing such decision. Besides, in the recent judgment by the CJEU on the compatibility of the EU-Canada Agreement on transferring passenger information in the fight against terrorism with the EU Treaties and Charter, the Court set a list of procedural requirements for the transfer of information in that context. In this regard, these requirements must be met for law enforcement data transfers to be compatible with the Charter. (See here Prof Lorna Wood’s review of Opinion 1/15.)

What is the EU’s position on data protection?

While all these developments and discussions are unravelling in the UK, the EU’s position on the matter focuses on the use and protection of personal data obtained or processed before Brexit for good reason – the need to determine what happens to data processed before Brexit Day. Accordingly, the EU Commission published a position paper as part of its approach to Article 50 negotiations in relation to such use and protection, updated on 21 September 2017. On the whole, the paper provides for the continuity of the application of the general principles of the EU data protection framework in force on Brexit day to personal data in the UK processed before that day. It also notes the continuity of the principal data subject rights’ such as right to be informed, right of access, and right to rectification. Moreover, it seeks the confirmation that the personal data with specific retention periods under sectorial laws must be erased upon the exhaustion of those periods, and that the ongoing investigations in relation to compliance with data protection principles on the Brexit day should be completed. It does not go unnoticed that the paper mentions to the CJEU as the legal authority to interpret the general principles that it refers to. As a whole, the position paper indicates that amidst the ambiguousness and the complexity that the future partnership with the UK on data protection holds, the EU Commission seeks to secure that this uncharted water will not be detrimental to data subjects whose data were transferred to the UK before Brexit.

Conclusion

The UK Government introduced the Data Protection Bill, which seeks to adjust its national laws on data protection with the GDPR and the Law Enforcement Directive. This development may mean that at least some EU data protection requirements will be implemented in UK law on the day the UK leaves the EU. Still, it should not be read as a solution for the issue of maintaining the UK-EU data transfer after Brexit because the GDPR’s and the Directive’s provisions on third country data transfer will be relevant for such transfer. After the CJEU’s Schrems decision, an adequacy finding and other legal mechanisms to enable that movement could trigger the extent of national security derogations and their interferences with fundamental rights of the persons whose data are transferred from the EU to the UK. Certain provisions of the IPA and the CJEU’s findings in Tele2 and Watson cannot be reconciled, and this may hinder a positive adequacy finding for the UK. The same conclusion can be drawn for any future EU-UK data transfer deal for law enforcement purposes.

Barnard and Peers: chapter 27

Photo credit: Cyberadvice

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[*] Many thanks to Prof Steve Peers for his valuable comments.

Bridge over troubled legal water? Legal issues of the Brexit transition period

Professor Steve Peers*

Compared to famous Florentines, Theresa May’s recent speech on the UK’s Brexit plans inevitably owed more to Machiavelli than Leonardo da Vinci. Nevertheless, it gave a rough indication of the basic legal architecture that the UK government would like to govern its relationship with the EU for a transition period after Brexit Day. I have previously summarised and commented upon the main points of the Florence speech, but there is more to say on this legal framework – and also on the rules which would apply to EU27 citizens in the UK during the transition period.

Legal framework

First of all, is a transition period after Brexit Day even legally possible? If so, what provision of EU law would apply?

Article 50 TEU, which sets out the basic rules on Member States’ withdrawal from EU membership, is silent on the issue of any transitional period after the withdrawal date. However, it might be noted that Article 49 TEU, governing accession, is equally silent on transitional periods after joining the EU; nevertheless such periods are an established feature of the accession process.

In its negotiating guidelines on the Brexit withdrawal agreement, the European Council (EU27 States’ leaders) stated that:

To the extent necessary and legally possible, the negotiations may also seek to determine transitional arrangements which are in the interest of the Union and, as appropriate, to provide for bridges towards the foreseeable framework for the future relationship in the light of the progress made. Any such transitional arrangements must be clearly defined, limited in time, and subject to effective enforcement mechanisms. Should a time-limited prolongation of Union acquis be considered, this would require existing Union regulatory, budgetary, supervisory, judiciary and enforcement instruments and structures to apply.

These principles are set out again in the negotiation directives on the agreement, handed down to the European Commission by the Council (EU27 States’ ministers) at paragraph 19. Those negotiation directives go into no further detail on the transition period issue for now; instead, there will be further negotiation directives in future, once the EU27 side has decided that there has been ‘sufficient progress’ on its priority issues (EU27 and UK citizens’ rights, financial issues, Northern Ireland) during the Brexit talks. 

For the UK’s part, the Florence speech states that on Brexit Day, the UK will cease to participate in the EU political institutions. The period must be ‘strictly time limited’, suggesting ‘around two years’;  but the two sides ‘could also agree to bring forward’ aspects, such as a new dispute settlement system. The latter point implies that the ECJ will apply until that point.

Substantively, during the transitional period, ‘access to one another’s markets should continue on current terms’; the UK will ‘continue to take part in existing security measures’; and the ‘framework’ will be ‘the existing structure of EU rules and regulations’.  There would be no change to other Member States’ payments and contributions during the current funding cycle (ending in 2020), implying that EU laws on funding and spending continue without amendment until then.

EU citizens can still come to live and work during this period, but they will be registered; but as I noted in the previous blog post, such registration is allowed under the EU citizens’ Directive. (More on that below). Finally, the speech referred to one substantive difference in law: the UK would hold its own trade negotiations, and would ‘no longer directly benefit’ from the EU’s trade negotiations.

Moreover, the speech made comments on another aspect of the withdrawal agreement – maintaining EU27 citizens’ rights – that may be relevant by analogy to transition issues. The Prime Minister said that the UK would ‘incorporate our agreement [on citizens’ rights] fully into UK law and make sure the UK courts can refer directly to it’; and that UK courts must be ‘able to take into account’ relevant ECJ case law.

Comparing the UK to the EU27 position on the transitional period, there are lots of similarities. Both sides are willing to contemplate such a period (the EU27’s ‘legally possible’ caveat is considered below). Both sides want it to be for a limited time. The Florence speech states that the transitional rules would be linked with the future permanent UK/EU relationship (‘a bridge from where we are now to where we want to be’), matching the EU27 position. (Note there’s no need to define the future relationship in detail in the withdrawal deal: Article 50 refers only to defining a ‘framework’ for that relationship, and the EU negotiation position refers only to bridges towards the foreseeable future framework).

The greatest difficulties may come with the issues of post-Brexit EU legislation, and the legal effect of EU law. At present the European Communities Act provides for the adoption of new EU law into the UK’s legal order. It gives that law direct effect and supremacy, and gives effect to ECJ rulings in domestic law. However, the proposed EU Withdrawal Bill would remove all these provisions, instead retaining pre-Brexit EU rules and ECJ judgments in force pending potential amendment by government or Parliament. Pre-Brexit ECJ judgments would retain their force subject to such amendments or overruling by the UK Supreme Court, and UK courts would have an option to take post-Brexit ECJ case law into account. The Bill would also remove the principle of damages liability for breach of EU law, and would not keep the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights as part of retained EU law in the UK (on the latter point, see discussion here).

Technically, anything which the UK agrees to in the Withdrawal Agreement can be incorporated into UK law easily enough, since clause 9 of the Withdrawal Bill would give the UK government unlimited power to amend any UK laws to give effect to that Agreement. (Note, however, that the Bill could be amended in Parliament as regards any of these points before it becomes an Act of Parliament). So the issue is not the capability of the UK government to give effect to the Withdrawal Agreement, but its willingness to negotiate on these issues.

After her speech, the Prime Minister deliberately avoided answering a question about whether the UK would apply post-Brexit EU law during the transition period, saying it was a matter for negotiation. In fact, there is some flexibility on this, since the EU27 negotiation position does not take any view on that point. (Remember that the EU27 negotiation position on transitional issues will be enlarged later). In the meantime, UK cabinet members have tried to rule this prospect out. (Note that the speech refers to keeping ‘existing’ and ‘current’ EU law in force).

There is less flexibility as regards the legal effect of EU law, where – to recall – the EU27 position is that ‘existing EU regulatory, budgetary, supervisory, judiciary and enforcement instruments and structures’ should apply. The combined reference to ‘judiciary’ and ‘enforcement’ structures suggest that the ECJ’s current jurisdiction, and the current legal effect of EU law in the UK, should apply. While the Prime Minister obliquely referred to the ECJ, she hoped that its role could be terminated early as regards the UK; and the UK government’s position on the legal status of EU27 citizens (no ECJ role; option to take account of ECJ rulings; incorporation of Withdrawal Agreement into UK law but no special status), if extended to the transitional rules in the Withdrawal Agreement, would fall short of the EU27 position. Equally, while it is not expressly mentioned in the current negotiation position, the EU27 might, when amending that position, argue that the EU Charter should still apply to the UK during the transitional period. (Note that the Charter does not apply to all actions of Member States, but only applies to Member States when they implement EU law). 

Three further points. First, what happens to the position of non-EU countries as regards the UK? They are parties to some treaties with the EU alone, and to some treaties with the EU together with its Member States. The legal issues arising in this respect during the transitional period will have to be addressed.

Secondly, what happens after the end of the transitional period? In particular, what if it is deemed desirable on both sides to continue the arrangement, in whole or part? In that case, the special decision-making rule applying to Article 50 (see next point) will have expired, and so the normal decision-making rules of EU law will apply. Depending on the content of what is carried forward then, this may require some unanimous voting and even ratification by all Member States, although it should be recalled that the EU side can decide to apply treaties provisionally pending national ratification.

That brings us to the most fundamental legal issue: can the EU27 side include a transitional deal within the scope of Article 50 in the first place? The words ‘[t]o the extent…legally possible’ hint at some doubt on this point, presumably because of an argument that Article 50 cannot extend to the regulation of legal relationships that are created after Brexit Day, but only to the regulation and/or termination of those created before that date. However, while little is certain now about how the ECJ might interpret Article 50, in my view that interpretation is too narrow, given that Article 50 refers to taking account of the framework for future relations with the withdrawing state, and Article 8 TEU refers to maintaining strong relationships with neighbouring non-EU countries. If this is correct, it follows that as long as the transitional deal is limited in time and linked to the future framework for relations – as both the EU27 and UK side intend – there should not be a legal problem. (On the other hand, there is nothing in Article 50 to require that anything in the withdrawal agreement must be subject to ECJ jurisdiction, besides the usual rule that only the ECJ can rule definitively on how to interpret EU law for EU Member States).

The importance of this is that the Article 50 agreement needs only a qualified majority vote to be approved by the EU27, without national ratification by Member States (as confirmed in the negotiation directives). But the EU27 and UK should prepare a ‘Plan B’ in the event that some Eurosceptic devoted to a ‘WTO-only’ and/or ‘no deal’ relationship between the UK and EU brings a legal challenge. If such a challenge were successful, the ECJ might anyway maintain the problematic parts of the treaty in force temporarily due to legal certainty; and the UK and EU should aim to agree the impugned parts of the Withdrawal Agreement on the correct legal basis as soon as possible, applying that new treaty provisionally.

Extension of the Article 50 period

Some have suggested extending the negotiation period for the Brexit talks instead – as Article 50 expressly allows for – arguing that a transition phase is no different from extending the negotiation period anyway.  It’s true that legally the extension of the negotiation period would be simple: it requires only a unanimous vote of the EU27 Member States (with no national ratification) required, plus the UK government, with no role for the European Parliament. As a matter of domestic UK law, arguably an Act of Parliament would be required to this end (note that the European Union (Notification of Withdrawal) Act, which gave the government power to invoke Article 50 pursuant to the Miller judgment, does not mention the issue of extension).

But an extension to the negotiation period would be politically difficult. It’s not known whether the EU27 would give their unanimous consent, particularly given the awkward consequence that the UK would then end up participating in the 2019 European Parliament elections. And within the UK, announcing an intention to delay Brexit would likely mean that Theresa May would immediately be the centrepiece of a modern version of Da Vinci’s Last Supper – followed swiftly by the political resurrection of Nigel Farage.

Furthermore, it’s false to say that there is really no difference between a negotiation extension and a transition period. First of all, during a negotiation extension the UK would still participate in the EU’s political institutions. Secondly, it’s certain that there would be no change in the legal effect of EU law in the UK or the substance of EU laws in the UK, and that new EU laws and new ECJ judgments would continue to apply, in the event of a negotiation extension – whereas those issues may, as discussed above and below, be addressed differently during a transition period.

Thirdly, in the event of a change of mind in the UK on Brexit, remaining within the EU on the basis of a negotiation extension may be different from rejoining the EU after having left. This depends (a) on the resolution of some legal issues concerning Article 50 (Can the withdrawal notice be rescinded? If so, must the EU consent? If so, can the EU attach conditions? Or can the Article 50 period simply be extended indefinitely, with no further negotiation taking place?) and (b) on the extent to which the UK could rejoin on the same terms (Would the EU have already removed the UK’s opt-outs from the Treaties? Would the UK rebate on the EU budget have been rescinded yet?).

EU27 citizens

As noted already, the UK government’s intention to require EU citizens to register if they come to the UK during the transitional period is consistent with the EU citizens’ Directive, which allows registration for stays longer than three months. Indeed, the Commission has reported that almost all EU states register citizens from other EU Member States. But a failure to register can only be punished by proportionate penalties, not expulsion or detention (see the ECJ ruling in Watson and Bellman, concerning a prior version of this law). According to the ECJ ruling in Huber, Member States may include information on EU citizens in a database, but this can only be used for the purpose of administering EU free movement law; if they put information on EU citizens in a criminal database, they must be treated equally with nationals of that Member State.

The Directive goes on to say that Member States cannot insist that registration certificates must be the sole method of checking entitlement to reside or any other right, since other forms of proving identity are possible; and that Member States can only penalise EU citizens for not carrying their registration certificates if they penalise their own citizens the same way for not carrying ID cards (see also the ECJ judgment in Oulane). It follows that as long as the UK doesn’t have an ID card system, it could not penalise EU citizens for not carrying registration certificates.

So while registration of EU citizens is permissible, the limits set out in the legislation and case law put the more general questions about ‘transition law’ raised in this blog post in a particular context. It would not be credible for the EU27 to insist that the UK not register EU citizens at all, particularly given that most of them do the same thing themselves. But will the important limits on registration apply? It’s an important question given the tendency of the UK Home Office to create a ‘hostile environment’ for EU and non-EU citizens alike, and the risk that absent the application of EU case law and legislation to this issue, there could be fines, detention, expulsion or other refusals of rights for EU citizens who didn’t register, lost their registration certificate or forgot to carry it. (All the same issues arise if the UK extends – as it could – the registration obligation to EU citizens who were present before Brexit Day).

If the EU27 and UK agree that the existing EU law still applies and the pre-Brexit ECJ case law remains binding, in principle the issue is resolved, at least during the transitional period. But what if the UK breaches this agreement, or if there is some question about how the UK applies the requirement, or if there is some new relevant ECJ case law? Then the important questions will be whether the existing EU law remedies (direct effect, supremacy, damages) are still available; whether UK courts can still ask the ECJ questions; and whether the UK courts are obliged to follow post-Brexit ECJ case law.

This issue, important as it would be for many EU citizens resident in the UK, is only a microcosm of the legal issues raised by the transition period – and which the UK and EU27 will hopefully have time to consider properly.

Barnard & Peers: chapter 27

Photo credit: Thousand Wonders

* *This blog post was supported by an ESRC Priority Brexit Grant on 'Brexit and UK and EU Immigration Policy'

Learning to let go – the Charter of Fundamental Rights after Brexit

Eduardo Gill-Pedro, Post-Doctoral Researcher, Faculty of Law, Lund University: Eduardo.gill-pedro@jur.lu.se

The UK Government’s proposal that the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the EU (the Charter) will not be converted into UK law following Brexit (clause 5(4) of the EU Withdrawal Bill) has generated strong reaction from opposition parties. The Labour party has indicated that it considers this to be a ‘red-line’ issue, and that it will not support a bill that does not incorporate the charter into UK law. Keir Starmer, the Shadow Brexit Secretary, had earlier indicated that Labour would only support a deal which met its ‘six tests’, one of which was the requirement that such a deal would ‘defend rights and protections and prevent a race to the bottom’.

In this blog entry I will argue, first, that there is no necessary connection between, on the one hand, incorporating the Charter into UK law and on the other, defending rights and protections of individuals in the UK following Brexit, and second, that upholding a commitment to be bound by the Charter post-Brexit is problematic from a democratic legitimacy perspective.

The Charter is not necessary to protect rights

The continued protection of rights in the UK is not dependent on continued adherence to the Charter. This is because the point of the Charter, indeed the point of EU fundamental rights as a whole, (at least to the extent that they bind the Member States, not necessarily the EU institutions) is not to ensure the protection of fundamental rights per se, but rather to ensure that the project of European integration is not jeopardised by the requirement to protect fundamental rights. This was expressly acknowledged by the Court of Justice of the EU (CJEU), when it stated:

“it should be borne in mind that the reason for pursuing the objective [of protecting fundamental rights in EU law], is the need to avoid a situation in which the level of protection of fundamental rights varies according to the national law involved in such a way as to undermine the unity, primacy and effectiveness of EU law” (Case C-206/13 Siragusa, para. 32)

The Charter is thus best seen as a mechanism which is intended to protect the autonomy of EU law vis a vis both national law and the ECHR, to ensure that the supremacy of EU law is accepted by national legal orders, and to ensure the effective application of EU law in the legal orders of the member states. Further, while EU fundamental rights reflect the constitutional traditions common to the member states, as well as the rights set out in the ECHR, they must be interpreted and applied “within the framework of the structure and objectives of the Community” (Case 11/70 Internationale Handelsgesellschaft mbH). This framework of objectives is structured in such a way as to contribute to “the implementation of the process of integration that is the raison d’être of the EU itself” (Opinion 2/13, paras 172 and 177).

This demand, that EU fundamental rights are interpreted in a way that respects the framework of objectives of the EU, can mean that in some cases these rights will operate as ceilings, and member states will not be able to apply their own, higher standard of protection (as in Internationale, as well as in the more recent case of C-399/11 Stefano Melloni v Ministerio Fiscal EU:C:2013:107), and in other cases they operate as floors, and member states will be required to grant protection to interests which would not be recognised as rights in their own legal order (See for instance Cases C-465/00, C-138/01 and C-139/01 Rechnungshof v ÖsterreichischerRundfunk and Others EU:C:2003:294 and C-426/11 Mark Alemo Herron and others v Parkwood Leisure Ltd EU:C:2013:521).

In both these cases, the level of protection is set in light of the structure and objectives of the EU. In other words, whether the national court will be required or permitted to protect the particular interest at stake will be determined in light of the objective of furthering European integration. This is not to say that this is the sole consideration. But it is to say that it is a consideration that must always be present when interpreting or applying EU fundamental rights.

If following Brexit, the UK is no longer bound by the Charter, this does not mean that it no longer needs to protect human rights – national courts will still be required to protect the ECHR, as well as the rights guaranteed in the UK’s ‘unwritten constitution’. It will also be required to apply the rights in the EU legislation which became domestic law through Clauses 2 to 4 of the Bill (which provide that EU-derived domestic legislation will be saved (Clause 2), directly applicable EU legislation will be incorporated into UK law (Clause 3) and EU rights derived from the European Communities Act 1972 will be saved (Clause 4). What it does mean is that it will no longer be required to interpret and apply human rights in light of the objectives of European integration. Given that Parliament has passed the Bill requiring the government to trigger Article 50, and that the UK Government has sent a letter to the EU commission announcing the UK’s decision to leave the EU in less than two years’ time, we must conclude that the UK no longer shares the objective of furthering European integration, at least to the extent that such integration includes the UK. And these seems to be something which both the Conservative and the Labour party have accepted, given that both parties voted in favour of the Article 50 Bill.

If it is the case that the UK no longer shares the objective of furthering European integration, then it does not make sense to remain bound by a Charter which will require the UK to interpret and apply fundamental rights in light of such an objective.

Brexit and the democratic deficit

The meaning of the Charter rights is determined by the Court of Justice, and the Court determines the meaning of those rights in light of the objectives of the EU. This is arguably already problematic from the perspective of the democratic legitimacy of the member state when the member state shares those objectives (This is the argument I made in my doctoral thesis EU Fundamental Rights and National Democracies: contradictory or complementary (Lund, 2016). Fundamental rights are conditions of democracy, and as such they should also be outcomes of democratic processes (J. Habermas Between Facts and Norms - Polity, 1996).

Once the UK leaves the EU, this democratic deficit will be greatly aggravated. Because then the meaning of the Charter rights will be determined in light of objectives which are no longer the UK’s objectives, and furthermore, given the dynamic nature of the EU as a polity, these objectives will continue to evolve and change of time. The UK, which will no longer be a member of the EU, will play no part in shaping that evolution. This means that the UK, should it remain bound by the Charter, will be committed to applying a set of norms which it will not be able to play any part in shaping. So the people of the UK will be bound by fundamental legal norms which will be neither by the people, because they are decided by the EU, in light of objectives which the British people will have no role in shaping, nor for the people, because they are done for a project of which the British people are not a part. 

Conclusion

There are real dangers that Brexit will be used as a pretext to conduct an assault on rights protections, and to engage in a race to the bottom. However, I argue that this is not prevented by a commitment to remain bound by the Charter. Once the UK is no longer part of the EU project, and no longer committed to the objectives of EU integration, then it makes no sense to remain bound to an instrument whose raison d’etre is the furthering of those objectives.

Rather, a commitment to protecting rights for a Britain that is no longer a part of the EU must mean a commitment to protecting those rights within, and through the democratic processes of the UK - Including through the Human Rights Act. The EU has played an important role in shaping a developing the culture of rights in the UK. And for human rights lawyers it is of course helpful to have had another forum in which to litigate one’s case - especially one with the enforcement tools at the disposal of the CJEU. So it can be difficult to let go of the Charter. But human rights are not something that were given to the member states by the EU – they were won first through struggles fought within those states’ political communities – they are, in Rancière’s words “inscriptions of the community as free and equal” (J. Rancière, “Who Is the Subject of the Rights of Man?” The South Atlantic Quarterly (2), 297, p. 303.). A commitment to human rights post-Brexit must involve trust in the capacity of the British people to continue to develop and evolve that culture of rights outside the framework of the EU.

Barnard & Peers: chapter 9, chapter 27

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The White Paper on the Great Repeal Bill: Invasion of the Parliamentary Control Snatchers

Professor Steve Peers

Yesterday’s White Paper for the forthcoming Great Repeal Bill outlines the key elements of the domestic law aspects of the process of the UK leaving the EU. It indicates broadly how the future proposal for a Bill will do two main things: (a) convert existing EU law applied in the UK to UK law including, in some cases, law of the devolved bodies in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland); and (b) provide for a process of amending ex-EU law in future.

While the White Paper has thought some issues through in detail, there are some key points on which it is either vague or unconvincing (or both). In particular, it contains no real detail or substantiated argument on the most important issue: the power of the executive to amend laws without an Act of Parliament.

Converting EU law

The White Paper confirms that the UK will continue to apply EU law until Brexit Day – which will be March 29, 2019, unless (a) the EU/UK withdrawal agreement specifies otherwise, or (b) the EU and UK agree to extend this date, or (c) the UK rescinds its notification to withdraw from the EU (if that is legally possible). It also confirms the intention to remove the European Communities Act – the main Act of Parliament that gives effect to EU membership in UK law – as of that date.

But it seeks to retain in force the EU rules which apply in the UK as of that date, subject to amendments (as discussed below).  The EU rules in question are directly-applicable Regulations and EU Treaty provisions, as well as Directives which were already transposed into UK law by using the European Communities Act. Also, the Treaties will remain relevant for the interpretation of ex-EU legislation which was initially based on them (para 2.10).

What about the EU courts? Here the White Paper draws a distinction. On the one hand, post-Brexit laws will not be subject to the jurisdiction of the EU Court, and the UK’s courts will not be obliged to take ECJ rulings into account (presumably they could choose to do so, however). On the other hand, ex-EU laws will still have to be interpreted by reference to pre-Brexit case law of the EU courts, to ensure certainty. There’s no reference to post-Brexit case law, but again presumably the UK courts could choose to consider it.

The latter rule will not be absolute, however: pre-Brexit ECJ case law will have the same binding effect as UK Supreme Court judgments, and so the Supreme Court could overrule those judgments in the same limited circumstances in which it can (and rarely does) overrule itself. It will of course be possible for Parliament to overturn ECJ case law by amending the legislation, and the government hints that it might want to consider clarifying the circumstances in which the Supreme Court could overturn prior ECJ rulings.

A similar distinction arises as regards the supremacy of EU law: the EU court rule that EU law takes precedence over any conflicting national law, so the latter has to be disapplied by national courts in the event of any conflict. The supremacy rule will not apply to post-Brexit UK legislation, but it will still apply to pre-Brexit UK laws that conflict with ex-EU law.

Despite the general conversion of EU law, the White Paper insists on an exception for the EU Charter of Rights.  In that case, the ex-EU legislation will be interpreted after Brexit by the ‘rights underlying’ the Charter (ie the ECHR and other international treaties which the UK has signed), rather than the Charter itself.

Amending ex-EU law

Obviously the body of ‘ex-EU’ law will not remain unchanged forever. The White Paper discusses the process by which it can be changed in future. There are two key issues here. First, will any changes be the responsibility of the Westminster Parliament or government, or the parliaments and executives of the devolved bodies in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland? Secondly, within Westminster, what changes will be subject to Acts of Parliament, and what will be subject to delegated powers conferred upon the executive?

On the first point, the White Paper is vague about exactly what powers will be exercised by the devolved administrations, and this is likely to be a highly contested issue in practice.

On the second point, the distinction between Acts of Parliament and executive powers is important because an Act of Parliament allows for extensive public discussion and parliamentary scrutiny, whereas an act of the executive (usually in the form of 'Statutory Instruments') is subject to limited public or parliamentary involvement. For instance, there is far less time for discussion, and no prospect of tabling amendments.

The White Paper starts by mentioning some possible delegated powers for the Great Repeal Bill that will surely be uncontroversial. For instance, it refers to the references in ex-EU law to 'EU law', powers of the EU institutions, or information sharing with the EU. Since most of these references will be redundant (except possibly as regards continued sharing of police information, as the White Paper notes), there are limited policy choices to be made when replacing them. So there can be little objection in principle to the executive using such powers.

However, there is a further category of changes to EU law which will be more substantive. The White Paper gives a non-exhaustive list of cases where the government thinks it should have delegated powers: where a policy might change in light of the Brexit talks with the EU; where a policy changes as a direct consequence of leaving the EU; and where the level of detail is 'not appropriate' for an Act of Parliament. 

More generally, the government argues that these powers must be widely defined and must apply not only to ex-EU law converted into EU law, but also Acts of Parliament linked to EU membership. The power for the executive to amend Acts of Parliament is controversial, and such clauses are widely known as 'Henry VIII clauses'. Although the House of Lords Constitution Committee had previously argued that there should be extra powers of parliamentary scrutiny in this context, the government implicitly rejects this view. 

Comments

The overall objective of ensuring legal continuity by retaining pre-Brexit EU law in force is logical, and the White Paper has thought many of the details through. It makes sense to ensure that legal continuity as much as possible by creating a distinct body of ex-EU law, where a form of the principle of supremacy still applies and ECJ judgments remain binding, subject to the rare case that the UK Supreme Court might want to overturn.

However, some of the detail has not been considered: what about future ECJ case law? What about cases concerning EU law in the UK pending in the UK courts or the EU courts on Brexit Day? What if a condition of ensuring market access to the EU after Brexit is to take relevant EU court case law ‘into account’? (Note that this falls short of making those judgments binding, and is even an even longer way from retaining the supremacy of EU law over national law). What about the domestic legal impact of any alternative court or dispute settlement system that might rule on UK/EU disputes after Brexit?

The hostility to the EU Charter forms an exception to the rule that prior EU law continues to apply, and raises much legal uncertainty. Does it also mean that ECJ rulings referring to the Charter should be ignored, at least to the extent that they refer to the Charter? Since many such rulings refer to other EU laws and interpret them in light of the Charter, there will in effect be an odd requirement to keep following part of a ruling but not all of it. But this will be like trying to remove an egg from an omelette, because the judicial reasoning on the Charter and the EU legislation is intertwined.  

To some extent, this effect will be limited by the requirement to interpret the ex-EU law in light of the ‘underlying rights’ instead of the Charter. But what does this mean in light of the government’s intention to repeal the Human Rights Act, and replace it with a British Bill of Rights? What if the ECJ’s interpretation of the Charter was arguably more ambitious in a particular case than the relevant ‘underlying rights’ in the Charter? What if the relevant ‘underlying rights’ are set out in a human rights treaty which the UK has not ratified, or not made part of its domestic law? And there is no mention of the pre-Charter case law of the ECJ on human rights as ‘general principles of law’; what happens then?

Moving on to the amendment process, the White Paper’s initial examples of very technical changes to ex-EU laws that the government might wish to make are frankly misleading. For the White Paper then goes on to refer to a non-exhaustive list of broad discretionary powers which the government wants to make changes to the statute book in light of talks with the EU, to make consequential changes to policies or to fill in details of laws.

As drafted, these powers are potentially nearly limitless. They could, for instance, be used to adopt every detail of future policies on agriculture, fisheries, trade with non-EU countries or extradition to the EU without full parliamentary scrutiny or public discussion, because each of these are areas where the new laws could be regarded as changes consequential to leaving the EU. 

So how should Parliament limit government powers? It will be hard to avoid conferring some substantive delegated powers on the government, as the time frame to implement a Brexit agreement with the EU (or the absence of one) before the likely Brexit Day of March 29, 2019 might be tight. On the other hand, there might be several months to spare, or there might be a transitional agreement keeping EU law in force for some time, so giving Parliament more time to act.

The best way forward is to rule certain issues off-limits entirely, particularly issues where EU law provides for essentially domestic legal harmonisation: for instance employment law, environmental law, consumer law, discrimination law. In those areas there is generally no reason why the law necessarily has to change if the UK leaves the EU, because the relevant laws are not usually about cross-border matters. (There are exceptions, like European Works Councils or carbon trading laws).

In other substantive areas, where there is a direct link with leaving the EU, Parliament should be given a right to rule on whether the conditions for conferring delegated powers on the government are met. Effectively it could decide whether the trigger for those powers had to be pulled due to lack of time or not. (Thanks to Professor Tammy Hervey for a version of this idea). There could be particular limits on the power of the executive to amend Acts of Parliament.

Also, the government could be pressed to make more effort to table Acts of Parliament well in advance of Brexit Day on the planned changes to some key areas, for instance agriculture and fisheries, to enable full parliamentary scrutiny. In particular, the planned customs bill could include rules setting out the domestic legal framework for UK’s post-Brexit international trade law (more on that specific issue another time).  

Finally, on the issue of devolved assemblies, it is striking that the Brexit Minister’s foreword to the White Paper talks generally about a “significant increase in the decision-making power” of the devolved bodies, but the actual White Paper then does not give any detail of this. On the other hand it does go into some detail about the powers which can’t be conferred upon devolved assemblies, due to an intention to ensure a UK-wide single market.

Maybe we need a short, simple phrase to refer to the promise of devolved powers which is not then substantiated by any detail. Might I suggest…“the Vow”.

Barnard & Peers: chapter 27

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The judgment in Miller: Representative Democracy Strikes Back

Professor Steve Peers

Yesterday the UK’s Supreme Court gave its long-awaited judgment in the case of Miller (and a parallel Northern Ireland case), concerning the process of the UK leaving the EU. There’s already a detailed analysis of the constitutional law aspects by Professor Mark Elliott here. So my post will summarise the key elements of the judgment, and put it into the broader context of the Brexit process and the role of Parliament.

There are two main issues in the case: the role of Parliament in triggering the Article 50 process, and the role of devolved legislatures. Like the Supreme Court, I’ll take these two points in turn.

Role of Parliament

The Supreme Court, like the High Court ruling in Miller, began by pointing out that it was not ruling on the merits of Brexit, or on any the substantive details of how it would take place. It was only ruling on which political bodies in the UK have the power to send the Article 50 notice to the European Union, thereby starting the clock ticking on the timetable for Brexit. The central question in the case was whether the government could start the process, by means of the ancient ‘Royal prerogative’, or whether some action by Parliament was also necessary.

While the Royal prerogative traditionally gives the British executive power to decide (among other things) on the negotiation and ratification of treaties, and the withdrawal from such treaties, international treaties have no effect in domestic law without an Act of Parliament to give them effect.  In general, the royal prerogative cannot be used to confer rights or remove rights of individuals. Given that the UK’s EU membership is largely regulated by an Act of Parliament – namely the European Communities Act – does it therefore follow that an Act of Parliament (or some other form of consent by Parliament) is necessary to authorise the government to begin the process of removing those rights?

The Supreme Court ruled by a majority (8-3) that Parliamentary consent was indeed necessary. It did so by pointing to the particular nature of EU law – a ‘dynamic’ process of new law-making by EU institutions, which takes effect as part of the domestic law of the UK by means of (primarily) the European Communities Act.  

In reaching this conclusion, the Supreme Court touched on a number of important points. Most significantly, it expressly stated that the judges were not deciding the question of whether an Article 50 notice could be revoked after it was sent, or whether any conditions could be attached to it (para 26). This compares to the High Court, which had accepted the agreement between the parties that the notice to withdraw from the EU could not be revoked.  

This is significant because some would like Parliament or the public to consider whether to withdraw the Article 50 notice, with the result that the UK remains in the EU, when the terms of the final agreement to leave are known. That objective is obviously not feasible in principle unless Article 50 is indeed revocable – although there might be another route to the same end: an indefinite suspension of the two-year time limit for leaving the EU.

A case will soon be brought before the Irish courts on this point, seeking to obtain a reference to the ECJ to clarify the issue. The Irish courts – or the courts of any other Member State – now need not be concerned by any possible awkwardness stemming from taking a different view from the UK courts on this issue. Furthermore, if the revocability issue is somehow brought before a UK court, any lower court can see that the Supreme Court has deliberately left the issue open, and so can consider the issue afresh.  

Next, the Supreme Court provided a neat – if belated – answer to the argument that EU law membership has rescinded parliamentary sovereignty. It observes (paras 60 and 66) that EU law only applies in the UK as a matter of domestic law because Parliament had agreed to this in the European Communities Act. It followed that Parliament could always curtail or abolish this domestic effect of EU law, if it chose.

The Supreme Court also ruled that Parliamentary involvement in converting EU law into British law, by replacing the European Communities Act with a planned ‘Great Repeal Act’, was not sufficient to substitute for the role it should have in triggering the Article 50 process (para 94). Its discussion of the European Union Act 2011 (para 111) does not address head on the argument some have made that this act requires a further referendum before leaving the EU. For a number of reasons, the judges confirm that the referendum result is not legally binding – although they also acknowledge its political significance (leading up to para 125). Finally, it makes clear that legislation (ie an Act of Parliament) is required to trigger Article 50 (para 123). A parliamentary motion won’t do – meaning that parliament will have more chance to influence the result.

       

Devolved legislatures

What about the position of the UK’s devolved legislatures, in Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales? First, the Supreme Court ruled that those provisions of the Westminster legislation setting up these bodies which require them to act in accordance with EU law do not require those legislatures’ consent to the UK withdrawing from the EU. Secondly, it ruled that the ‘Sewel Convention’ – the informal constitutional rule that Westminster will not normally legislate in areas of devolved powers without devolved legislatures’ approval – was not a legally binding rule. Finally, it also ruled that the Good Friday Agreement did not address the Brexit issue.

Comments

What does the judgment mean for the Brexit process, and for parliamentary democracy more generally? On Brexit, it means that the government needs Parliament to adopt an Act to trigger Article 50, and it intends to propose a bill to this end very soon. Before becoming an Act of Parliament, a bill needs majority support from both Houses of Parliament. While, in light of the referendum result, there is no prospect that a majority of MPs will reject triggering Article 50, the bill is potentially subject to amendments – although the government may try to argue that amendments to its short, highly focussed bill are inadmissible.

But certainly the opposition parties will try. The Labour party has announced plans to table a number of amendments; the Scottish National Party says it will table 50 amendments; and the Liberal Democrats will propose holding a referendum on the final agreement reached by the UK and EU. In the House of Commons, the combined opposition would need around ten Conservatives to join them to pass any amendment. The House of Lords has to pass the bill too.

For a good overview of possible amendments, see this post by Professor Jeff King. In my view, one particular key amendment is essential: ensuring that an Act of Parliament must be passed to approve the UK/EU Brexit deal. That will give Parliament, in 2019, the full power to decide what to do then, from the range of possibilities available.

Anticipating one popular amendment, the government conceded already today that it will publish a White Paper on Brexit. However, rather cynically it seems that the White Paper will only be published after much of the parliamentary scrutiny has taken place. And it has been rightly suggested that an impact assessment would be much more useful.

While the Miller judgment means that arguments over Brexit primarily shift from the courts to parliament, it is not quite the end of legal proceedings. As noted already, the Irish case about the possible revocability of Article 50 will soon be launched, and the Miller ruling is expressly neutral on this point.

Furthermore, the ruling arguably strengthens the contention in a planned case (Wilding and others) that Parliament must also vote on whether the UK should leave the European Economic Area (EEA), a separate treaty that extends the EU single market to some non-EU countries.  I’ve previously blogged on that planned case here, and I can update the status of the case, thanks to Chelvan of No5 chambers, who is acting for one of the claimants (led by Ramby de Mello, for the second Claimants). The permission hearing in the case is due 3 February, and these claimants are arguing that (1) as with the European Communities Act, the royal prerogative does not give the executive power to issue an notice under Article 127 of the EEA; and (2) following the Miller judgment, the exercise of the prerogative without authority of an Act of Parliament will lead to a destruction of fundamental rights and freedoms conferred to UK and EEA nationals living and residing in the UK. As Miller confirmed, the referendum result is advisory; and in any event, it was an expression of political will with respect to leaving the EU and not the EEA.

What about the broader impact of the judgment? It is striking that in every respect, the judgment places the Westminster Parliament at the centre of the Brexit debate. By rejecting use of the royal prerogative to trigger Article 50, the ruling gives Parliament the power to set conditions upon the executive’s conduct of Brexit talks, and ensures that a broader public debate takes place. By affirming that the referendum result was not legally binding, it guarantees that legal authority remains with elected Members of Parliament – buttressed with unelected Lords – rather than the general public. And by asserting that devolved assemblies do not have a veto over Brexit, it entrenches Westminster’s decisive role in the national political debate. Miller raised deep questions about a number of developing tensions in the fabric of British constitutional law: between direct and representative democracy; between Parliament and executive; and between devolved powers and UK-wide government. To every question, the answer was, in effect: the Westminster Parliament.

Of course, there are practical limits to Westminster’s legal authority; and the judgment expressly recognises them. The outcome of the referendum vote is an unavoidable political reality. And so is the convention of seeking seeking the views of devolved assemblies – even though the government has already rejected their views, and intends to proceed against the opposition of the majority of voters in Scotland and Northern Ireland, and (as regards ‘hard Brexit’ at least) against the opposition of the government of Wales and the Plaid Cymru party (see their recent position paper). Furthermore, the executive has many ways to influence the conduct of Parliament’s business.

But for all these caveats, the judgment has certainly returned a degree of power over Brexit to the mother of Parliaments. The outcome of the debate over the Article 50 bill, in conjunction with the battle to come over the ‘Great Repeal Bill’, will determine how important Parliament remains as Brexit unfolds.

Despite many constitutional lawyers’ criticism of the technicalities of the judgment, in my view it at least fully expresses the traditional spirit of the UK constitution – and Parliament’s historic role in British political life. I’m an infrequent visitor to the Houses of Parliament, but I’ve experienced Ian Paisley push rudely in front of me in a queue, Dennis Skinner swear randomly at me in a lift, and Liam Fox glare angrily at me in a corridor. (Reader, I glared back at him). It’s the birthplace of boundless political dreams – yet also the graveyard of countless political careers.

Westminster's position may not last. Many have legitimate concerns about Parliament: the Hogarth cartoons displayed on its walls remind us that concerns about its scandals stretch back through the centuries.  There are valid arguments for further decentralisation of power to the regions, cities and devolved assemblies; for direct democracy; and for the efficiency of executive power. But for now, its pivotal role in the deciding the key aspects of Brexit can only be welcomed.

Barnard and Peers: chapter 27

Photo credit: the Telegraph