United Kingdom Internal Market Bill: Consideration of Lords Amendments

United Kingdom Internal Market Bill: Consideration of Lords Amendments 7 December 2020 Executive Summary This Report sets out in brief the Bingham Centre’s Rule of Law analysis of the clauses in Part 5 of the Bill of the UK Internal Market Bill that were removed by the House of Lords, to inform the House of Commons consideration of the Lords Amendments to the Bill on Monday 7 December. [...] The Rule of Law and International Law The Rule of Law is one of the cornerstones of the constitutional legal order of the UK. [...] Alongside the amendment, the Government also published a Statement on the notwithstanding clauses in the Bill, in which it commits to asking Parliament to support the use of the provisions in clauses 44, 45 and 47 of the Bill “only in the case of, in our view, the EU being engaged in a material 22 Tom Bingham, The Rule of Law (2010), chapter 10, “The Rule of Law in the International Legal Order”,. [...] The Rule of Law compatible alternative The Government says that it needs the clauses in the Bill in the event that the EU insists on unreasonable interpretations of the WA/NIP. [...] Moreover, the UK agreed to the exclusivity of the dispute settlement procedures provided for in the Agreement: for any dispute arising under the Agreement, the parties are only to have recourse to the procedures provided for in the Agreement.25 The Rule of Law-regarding way for the UK to proceed if it has concerns about the EU’s interpretation of the Agreement is therefore by invoking the dispute.