Brexit
British citizens in EU launch court challenge against Brexit
British citizens living in other EU countries have launched a court challenge against Brexit on the basis of electoral law breaches during the referendum campaign. The UK in EU Challenge group, represented by English law firm Croft Solicitors, argues that the referendum was not conducted "in accordance with the UK's constitutional r
Published 15 August 2018
English lawyers now form 10 per cent of Irish roll as Brexit fears prompt registration
Almost 10 per cent of solicitors registered in Ireland are lawyers from England and Wales, a figure in part attributable to the Brexit vote.
Published 10 August 2018
Advocate General Szpunar: Brexit vote should not affect execution of British EAWs
The UK's decision to leave the European Union should not immediately affect the execution of a European Arrest Warrant (EAW) issued by it, according to an Advocate General of the European Court of Justice.
Published 8 August 2018
Supreme Court Brexit battle between Scottish and UK governments begins
The Scottish Parliament's Brexit bill is "fundamentally inconsistent" with the law, counsel for the UK government has told the UK Supreme Court.
Published 24 July 2018
Northern Ireland's Attorney General backs Scottish government in Brexit showdown at Supreme Court
The Scottish government has gained the support of Northern Ireland's law officer in its legal case with the UK government over Brexit.
Published 20 July 2018
Post-Brexit intellectual property plans should give 'reassurance' to EU trademark holders
Brexit negotiators have reviewed the future of intellectual property rights, with the likelihood being that EU-wide rights will be replaced with equivalent UK rights after the end of the transition period.
Published 20 July 2018
Watchdog warns of potential surge in hate crime after Brexit south of the border
A watchdog has warned that police must shore up failings in their response to hate crime ahead of a potential surge after Brexit.
Published 20 July 2018
Pro-Brexit campaign fined £61,000 and referred to police over electoral law breaches
The lead pro-Brexit campaign group Vote Leave has been fined £61,000 and referred to police by the UK's elections watchdog for breaking electoral laws on campaign spending.The Electoral Commission today published the conclusions of its investigation into the spending of Vote Leave and other campaigners, finding that Vote Leave and Darren Grimes broke electoral law.The investigation found significant evidence of joint working between Vote Leave and another campaign group called BeLeave.Evidence shows that BeLeave spent more than £675,000 with AggregateIQ under a common plan with Vote Leave. This spending should have been declared by Vote Leave, which means Vote Leave exceeded its legal spending limit of £7 million by almost £500,000.Vote Leave also returned an incomplete and inaccurate spending report, with nearly £234,501 reported incorrectly, and invoices missing for £12,849.99 of spending.Mr Grimes, founder of BeLeave, was found to have committed two offences and has been fined £20,000. He spent more than £675,000 on behalf of BeLeave, a non-registered campaigner with a spending limit of £10,000. He wrongly reported that same spending as his own.The commission has now referred David Halsall, the responsible person for Vote Leave, and Mr Grimes to the Metropolitan Police in relation to false declarations of campaign spending.It has also shared its investigation files with the Metropolitan Police in relation to whether any persons have committed related offences which lie outside the Commission's regulatory remit.Bob Posner, the Electoral Commission's director of political finance and regulation & legal counsel, said: "These are serious breaches of the laws put in place by Parliament to ensure fairness and transparency at elections and referendums. Our findings relate primarily to the organisation which put itself forward as fit to be the designated campaigner for the ‘leave’ outcome."He added that Vote Leave had "resisted our investigation from the start" and forced the watchdog "to use our legal powers to compel it to provide evidence". He added: "Nevertheless, the evidence we have found is clear and substantial, and can now be seen in our report."The investigation also found that the campaign group Veterans for Britain inaccurately reported a donation it received from Vote Leave. It has been fined £250. There was no evidence that Veterans for Britain campaigned under a common plan with Vote Leave.In total, the levels of fines are £61,000 for Vote Leave, £20,000 for Mr Grimes and £250 for Veterans for Britain.The commission noted that it was constrained by the maximum individual fine limit of £20,000, which it considers to be "inadequate for serious offences of electoral or referendum law".
Published 17 July 2018
Facebook issued record £500,000 fine over failure to safeguard user information during Brexit vote
Facebook broke the law during the Brexit referendum – by failing to safeguard people’s information after the data of 87 million people was harvested – and could be fined £500,000 for two breaches of data protection legislation, the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) announced as it called for a statutory code regulating the use of personal data in political campaigns to be introduced.
Published 11 July 2018
Brexit prompts swaps and derivatives body to launch French and Irish law master agreements
The International Swaps and Derivatives Association (ISDA) has launched new French and Irish law versions of the ISDA Master Agreement, adding to the existing English, New York and Japanese law choices ahead of Brexit.
Published 3 July 2018
Brexit threatening Sewel convention 'almost to destruction', warns academic
Brexit is threatening the Sewel convention "almost to destruction", according to one academic.
Published 19 June 2018
Blog: Battling Brexit – challenge over revocability of Article 50 notification rejected
Graham Horn recounts the latest legal episode in the battle against Brexit.
Published 15 June 2018
Challenges in tackling cross-border crime after Brexit highlighted
Scotland’s police and prosecutors could face “complex and far-reaching” challenges in tackling cross-border crime after Brexit, a new paper has suggested.
Published 14 June 2018
UK justice minister resigns over government Brexit policy
UK justice minister Phillip Lee has resigned over the government's Brexit policy ahead of a vote on whether or not to give MPs a decisive say on the final deal with the EU.
Published 12 June 2018
Blog: Brexit to do list...
Public law expert Lynda Towers provides a realistic overview of where we are on the path to Brexit.
Published 1 June 2018
