Research Briefing
What is happening in the World Trade Organization, and how does this relate to the current US administration's trade policy? This briefing paper explores these two issues, and considers what consequences they might have for a post-Brexit UK.
Research Briefing
The House of Commons has voted on various options for the future UK-EU relationship in the hope that an agreed UK position may help to break the impasse following the Commons' rejection of the UK-EU Withdrawal Agreement. The Government says it may hold a further Commons vote on future relationship options. What options have been proposed?
Research Briefing
The EU has agreed to extend Article 50 a second time. This could delay Brexit until 31 October 2019. This has implications for the UK while it remains in the EU, and could also impact on decisions taken within the EU over the next few months
Research Briefing
With the UK due to leave the EU next week and no Withdrawal Agreement as yet approved by the House of Commons, the Government has requested that the EU agree an extension to the Article 50 period in order to delay Brexit. Under what scenarios could an Article 50 extension be agreed with the EU? And could this lead to the UK taking part in the European Parliament elections?
Research Briefing
Could the UK unilaterally terminate the Withdrawal Agreement under international law if the Irish backstop, which the Agreement says is intended to be temporary, became permanent? An amendment from Sir Edward Leigh to the Government’s motion in December 2018 on approving the Withdrawal Agreement called for an assurance from the Government that it would terminate the Withdrawal Agreement if the EU refused to agree to removing the backstop at the end of 2021. This note looks at provisions in the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties for terminating and denouncing treaties, and arguments about whether these might apply to the Withdrawal Agreement if the Irish backstop were to persist.
Research Briefing
This paper looks at the possible options for dealing with returning terrorist fighters
Research Briefing
On 11 March 2019 the UK government and the EU agreed a series of 'interpretations' and 'clarifications' of the Withdrawal Agreement and Political Declaration they negotiated in November 2018. What is in the published documents? What are their effects? To what extent do they provide legally binding guarantees? How did they change the Attorney General's legal opinion of the Withdrawal Agreement? What was the result of the second 'meaningful vote' held in the House of Commons on the updated 'package', and what happens next?
Research Briefing
South Sudan was born in 2011. Since the moment of its birth, its people have been embroiled in turmoil, conflict and suffering. Although the civil war which has raged since 2013 has complex roots, observers attribute much of the blame to its leaders, President Salva Kiir Mayardit and former First Vice-President Riek Machar, who head up opposing political and armed factions of the ruling party. Over the last year or so, there have been renewed peace efforts. Could this mean peace at last?
Research Briefing
What could happen if the EU and UK negotiators don't agree a withdrawal agreement in time and the UK has to leave the EU on 29 March 2019 without one - and with no framework for future relations either? This paper looks at how such a situation might come about, the constitutional implications for the UK and in some cases for the devolved administrations, and what the impact might be in a range of policy areas.
Research Briefing
The Crime (Overseas Production Orders) Bill [HL] would create a framework to enable law enforcement agencies and prosecutors to apply to a UK court for an ‘overseas production order’ requiring a person (in practice, generally a communications service provider or ‘CSP’) in a foreign jurisdiction to produce or grant access to electronic data for the purposes of investigating and prosecuting serious crime. An application would only be granted if the judge was satisfied that the data was likely to be of substantial value to the criminal proceedings or investigations for which it was sought, and that it would be in the public interest.
Research Briefing
The EU and UK negotiators agreed the texts of a Withdrawal Agreement and Political Declaration on a framework for a future EU-UK relationship, and the time came for the UK Parliament to vote on it. But on 15 January Parliament rejected the two documents by 230 votes. The EU has said there will be no renegotiating the texts but has offered assurances on the intention that the backstop arrangement to prevent a hard Irish border would be temporary if it had to be introduced. This paper looks at what the EU has offered by way of 'clarifications' and 'assurances' on the backstop and whether the EU would offer an extension to Article. 50 might .
Research Briefing
This paper looks at the Political Declaration on the Framework for the Future Relationship between the European Union and the United Kingdom, which was agreed by EU leaders on 25 November.
Research Briefing
For some time the Library has been tracking the territorial disputes in the South China Sea and East China Sea, publishing several background briefings about them. This note provides a short overview of the main developments in these disputes since 2016.
Research Briefing
What do we still not know about the Brexit process or the withdrawal agreement with the EU that is currently being negotiated? This paper looks at some of the main unknowns.
Research Briefing
How are relations between the UK and the EU governed at the moment and what will happen after Brexit? This paper looks at the EU and UK proposals to date on how EU law will be observed and how disputes about this will be dealt with.
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