
Public Law for Everyone
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Public Law Blog by Professor of Public Law & Chair of the Faculty of Law, University of Cambridge, Professor Mark Elliott.
Public Law for Everyone
4d ago
Government proposals to streamline judicial review of decisions authorising major infrastructure projects have been branded ‘Trumpian’. As well as being misplaced, such criticisms risk inhibiting mature discussion and further polarising an already entrenched, culture-war style debate about the role of the courts in a liberal democracy. Under successive Conservative governments during the last 15 or ..read more
Public Law for Everyone
3M ago
As I write this blogpost, I am watching, in another window on my screen, the number of signatories to a petition calling for a general election in the UK tick ever upwards. At the time of writing, the figure stands at 2,151,485. By the time you read this, the number will no doubt be substantially ..read more
Public Law for Everyone
3M ago
The Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill is — quite rightly — attracting a great deal of attention and comment from politicians, commentators, civil society organisations and others. Strong views exist on both sides of the debate about a range of relevant legal matters, including — as recent posts by Philip Murray, Stevie Martin ..read more
Public Law for Everyone
4M ago
Earlier this week, the Attorney General, Lord Hermer, delivered the 2024 Bingham Lecture, entitled ‘The Rule of Law in an Age of Populism’. Although not a party political speech as such, he was evidently at pains to make it as clear as possible that the Labour Government’s stance on the rule of law, human rights ..read more
Public Law for Everyone
4M ago
Although the Supreme Court’s judgment in In the matter of an application by Noeleen McAleenon for Judicial Review [2024] UKSC 31 traverses some ostensibly technical ground, it is underpinned by an important reiteration by the Court of the role of judicial review. It was the failure of the Northern Ireland Court of Appeal ([2023] NICA ..read more
Public Law for Everyone
4M ago
Robert Jenrick MP, one of the two remaining contenders for the leadership of the Conservative Party, has made the UK’s withdrawal from the European Convention on Human Rights (‘ECHR’) a central part of his platform. This post will briefly attempt to address three issues arising from Jenrick’s policy: (i) the legally mistaken assumptions that appear ..read more
Public Law for Everyone
5M ago
I attended a fascinating talk at St Catharine’s College in Cambridge earlier this week, organised by the University’s Bennett Institute for Public Policy, on ‘Saving the Union? Whitehall and the Scottish independence referendum’. The speaker, Philip Rycroft, who later went on to become Permanent Secretary at the now-defunct Department for Exiting the European Union, was ..read more
Public Law for Everyone
1y ago
The following article was first published by The Telegraph.
Could the Supreme Court really strike down the Rwanda Bill? Former Attorney General Sir Geoffrey Cox appears to think so. In a letter to the Telegraph written with other senior barristers, he urges support for the Government’s Safety of Rwanda Bill as currently drafted, arguing that there would be grave risks if it went even further in seeking to sideline the courts. An even tougher Bill, they say, might risk a constitutional showdown with the courts that could sound the death knell of parliamentary sovereignty. Cox and his fellow bar ..read more
Public Law for Everyone
1y ago
In an earlier post, I noted that the doctrine of parliamentary sovereignty, at least as traditionally understood, would prevent a UK court, such as the Supreme Court, from simply refusing to apply the Rwanda Bill as unconstitutional. I also noted, however, that some senior judges have questioned the orthodox view that parliamentary sovereignty admits of no exceptions. The latter point is developed in a letter to the Daily Telegraph by four senior barristers, including former Attorney General Sir Geoffrey Cox MP. They set out several reasons why, in their view, it would be mistaken to press for ..read more
Public Law for Everyone
1y ago
The Safety of Rwanda (Asylum and Immigration) Bill has been published with much fanfare, following the conclusion a treaty between the UK and Rwanda that provides for some asylum-seekers to be removed to Rwanda. Importantly, the ‘Rwanda policy’ would not involve such asylum-seekers being held in Rwanda while their claims are determined by the UK: rather, their asylum claims would be determined by the Rwandan authorities, and successful claims would result in their remaining in Rwanda rather than returning to the UK. This post seeks to answer four key legal and constitution questions about the ..read more