On 12 September, the day after the EU (Withdrawal) Bill received its second reading in the House of Commons, this major one-day public event brought together leading parliamentarians and legal and constitutional specialists from across the UK to discuss the critical issues raised by the Bill and its prospects in the UK’s parliaments and assemblies.

Listen to the event in full

Video recordings of all the panels

are available on the UK in a Changing Europe website.

Programme

9.00 Registration and coffee

9.30 Welcome and introduction

Professor Anand Menon, Director, ESRC UK in a Changing Europe

9.35 The EU (Withdrawal) Bill: Overview

The Government’s approach

  • Daniel Denman, Director, Legal Advisors, Department for Exiting the EU

Legislating for Brexit: the issues

  • Professor Sionaidh Douglas-Scott, Anniversary Chair in Law, Queen Mary University of London

10.45 Delegated Powers

  • Chair: Dr Ruth Fox, Director and Head of Research, Hansard Society
  • Michael P. Clancy OBE, Director, Law Reform, Law Society of Scotland
  • Professor Mark Elliott, Professor of Public Law, University of Cambridge; Legal Adviser, House of Lords Constitution Committee
  • Lord Lisvane, Member, House of Lords Delegated Powers and Regulatory Reform Committee; former Clerk of the House of Commons

12.00 Lunch

13.00 Rights and Enforcement

  • Chair: Marie Demetriou QC, Brick Court Chambers
  • Professor Catherine Barnard, Professor of European Union Law, Cambridge University, and ESRC UK in a Changing Europe
  • Martha Spurrier, Director, Liberty

14.00 Devolution

  • Chair: Professor Dan Wincott, Professor of Law and Society, Wales Governance Centre, Cardiff University
  • Professor Colin Harvey, Professor of Human Rights Law, Queen’s University Belfast, and ESRC UK in a Changing Europe
  • Dr Jo Hunt, Reader in Law, Cardiff University, and ESRC UK in a Changing Europe
  • Professor Stephen Tierney, Professor of Constitutional Theory, Edinburgh University, and ESRC UK in a Changing Europe; Legal Adviser, House of Lords Constitution Committee

15.15 Tea

15.30 Parliamentary Perspectives

  • Chair: Professor Richard Rawlings, Professor of Public Law, University College London, and Honorary Distinguished Professor, School of Law and Politics, Cardiff University

A panel (subject to parliamentary business) including:

  • Hilary Benn MP, Chair, House of Commons Committee on Exiting the EU (Labour)
  • Sir Bill Cash MP, previous Chair, House of Commons European Scrutiny Committee (Conservative)
  • Joanna Cherry QC MP, Member, House of Commons Committee on Exiting the EU (SNP)
  • Dr Stephen Farry MLA, Deputy Leader and Brexit spokesman, Alliance Party
  • Eluned Morgan AM, Baroness Morgan of Ely, Member, National Assembly for Wales External Affairs and Additional Legislation Committee (Labour)

The event is funded by the ESRC UK in a Changing Europe initiative, and co-convened by Cardiff University’s Wales Governance Centre and the Hansard Society.

Enjoy reading this? Please consider sharing it

Latest

First sitting of the House of Commons after the State Opening of Parliament
blog / 19.10.18

Losers don’t lose hope: opposition supporters are now more likely than government supporters to believe they can change the country

Supporters of the winning party at UK general elections have traditionally enjoyed a greater sense of political efficacy in terms of their perceived ability to effect change at the national level. But the Audit of Political Engagement data shows that this winner-loser dynamic has not just weakened in recent years but has actively reversed.

Losers don’t lose hope: opposition supporters are now more likely than government supporters to believe they can change the country
Photo of people in a meeting depicting a citizens' assembly
blog / 10.10.18

How a Citizens’ Assembly helped select committees find social care consensus

Select committee Chairs Clive Betts MP and Sarah Wollaston MP explain how using a Citizens’ Assembly helped their committees find a consensus and produce a unanimous joint report for their recent inquiry into the long-term funding of adult social care, in an important innovation in select committee practice.

How a Citizens’ Assembly helped select committees find social care consensus
The Supreme Court of the United Kingdom, Westminster
blog / 07.08.18

Will Brexit change the UK constitution?

Whilst the Miller case may be seen as a victory for Parliament, it simultaneously highlights significant constitutional weaknesses on issues such as devolution and the role of referendums. Is it time to consider whether the UK constitution needs more legal as opposed to political regulation?

Will Brexit change the UK constitution?
Canadian Parliament
blog / 06.08.18

Canada’s ‘amateur’ MPs

In Canada, the ‘professional politician’ remains the exception rather than the rule, and MPs with prior political experience don’t have an advantage in the development of their parliamentary careers.

Canada’s ‘amateur’ MPs
Map of the world covered in map pins
blog / 03.08.18

Metrics for ‘Global Britain’ - a select committee proposal

If the House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee published regular ‘Metrics for Global Britain’ it could attach clear indicators to an otherwise politicised term, enhancing the committee’s scrutiny work and providing hooks for boosting its public and media profile. In evidence to the committee published in July, we explained how.

Metrics for ‘Global Britain’ - a select committee proposal
Prev
Next