(FT paywall) Internal market bill fuels anger within UK legal profession
https://www.ft.com/content/37c8d9ab-e0de-49ad-b3e8-4edf343adfb3
The bill, and the stance on it taken by Mr Buckland and Suella Braverman, the attorney-general, are fuelling growing anger within the legal profession.
Many lawyers see the legislation as a direct challenge to the rule of law and a threat to Britain’s reputation,
and are horrified that the senior government legal figures are supporting it.
Two former presidents of the Supreme Court have taken the unusual step of voicing their concerns
as part of what has become a very vociferous campaign by the legal profession,
which sees itself as under attack from a government that has accused judges and lawyers of becoming too activist.
David Neuberger, now a crossbench peer, called the legislation “quite extraordinary and very worrying”,
and said a number of its clauses “need to be defeated”, preferably in parliament.
Speaking at a webinar hosted by the International Bar Association,
Lord Neuberger suggested that part of the bill would introduce regulations that it would appear the courts would not be entitled to review.
He said that once the right to challenge the government in court was removed:
“you are in a dictatorship” and “it is the beginning, it can be feared, of going down a very slippery slope”.
Brenda Hale, meanwhile, said at a webinar hosted by Prospect magazine:
“Obviously, there is a potential for reputational damage if the UK could conclude a treaty in one year and then the next year give itself power unilaterally to break that treaty.”
As the bill is soon to be debated in the House of Lords, many lawyers believe the government ‘s comments about breaking international law may have backfired badly
- even if they were meant as political threats over Brexit aimed at EU negotiators.
Lawyers are worried about the message the bill sends out to the international legal community
- given that for the past 350 years Britain has been seen as a staunch upholder of the rule of law.
Indeed, London’s High Court is a centre for resolving international business disputes because of its reputation for fairness.
“The government has diminished the United Kingdom’s reputation as a champion of the rule of law,”
said Philippe Sands QC, a leading human rights lawyer and law professor at University College London.
Dominic Grieve QC, a former attorney-general, added:
“We have always been seen as a country in which our word is our bond . . .
but after the events of the last month we have taken a real nosedive in reputation.”
Mr Sands said the new Brexit legislation would make it more difficult for the UK to criticise other countries for human rights abuses,
adding that it could erode the trust needed to negotiate global trade treaties and, more broadly, “damages the reputation of the British legal community”.
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Ministers’ remarks about being prepared to break the law come as they impose unprecedented restrictions on people’s freedom due to Covid-19
- an irony not lost on many lawyers.
“What moral authority does the government have in expecting people to obey these laws if it itself is announcing that it intends to break its obligations under international law ,”
Lord Neuberger told the webinar last week.