Today, Mr Donald Tusk, the President of the European Council, confirmed that the EU27 will accept the UK’s request for a “flextension” of the current Brexit deadline (31 October 2019) to 11pm GMT 31 January 2020. This decision is expected to be formally confirmed through a written procedure adopted by the EU27 on Tuesday or … Read more

Last night the UK Government published the EU (Withdrawal Agreement) Bill. The purpose of this Bill is to enable the UK to implement in domestic law where relevant: (a) the revised Withdrawal Agreement agreed between the UK and EU last week at the EU Summit; and (b) related EEA, EFTA and Swiss Agreements. The Bill … Read more

Today the President of the European Commission, Mr Jean-Claude Juncker, wrote a letter to the President of the European Council, Mr Donald Tusk, stating that the European Commission and UK Government have reached agreement on a revised Protocol on Ireland/Northern Ireland and on a revised Political Declaration. Mr Juncker commented in his letter that: “I … Read more

We were delighted to host a Brexit breakfast discussion, chaired by Nusrat Zar (Partner in our Public Law practice), on 26 September 2019 for our clients on the constitutional and political issues arising out the latest Brexit developments. This was timely as it followed the Supreme Court’s judgment the previous day on the unlawful prorogation … Read more

The UK Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, wrote yesterday to the European Commission President, Mr Juncker, to set out the UK’s plan for resolving the Irish backstop issue. The legal text of the plan shared with Brussel’s negotiators remains confidential at this stage, at the UK’s request, although the explanatory note has been shared. The UK … Read more

The post below was first published on our Litigation blog As we approach the deadline of 31 October, it is difficult to predict what will happen. But the prospect of a no-deal Brexit – either then or at some later date – remains a very real possibility. In this blog post we consider the implications of such … Read more

In R (Miller) v The Prime Minister; Cherry and ors v Advocate General for Scotland [2019] UKSC 41, the Supreme Court found that the Prime Minister’s advice to Her Majesty to prorogue Parliament for an extended period was unlawful and void, and quashed the consequent Order in Council effecting the prorogation. Key Points It is … Read more

Herbert Smith Freehills LLP are pleased to confirm that we acted for The Rt Hon Sir John Major KG CH in relation to the litigation in the Supreme Court concerning the prorogation of Parliament.  As our client contended, the judges have taken the view that it was unlawful for the Prime Minister to advise HM … Read more