‘In this post, Ross Ludlow, Legal Support Assistant at Matrix Chambers, comments on the case of R v Maughan (Northern Ireland) [2022] UKSC 13. This case considered the Northern Irish approach to reduction in sentence for defendants who plead guilty to offences at an early stage of proceedings.’
UKSC Blog, 23rd January 2023
Source: ukscblog.com
‘Abortion in Northern Ireland has had a fraught and frequently distressing history. Until 2019 when the UK Parliament reformed the law, the jurisdiction had the most restrictive approach to abortion in the UK. But even this reform has not reformed the reality, either for those seeking abortion services or information and counselling on such services or for those who work at providers of such services lawfully. I have previously written about the situation as it stood in March 2021, and the reality has changed little since then, with two notable exceptions. In March 2022, the Northern Ireland Assembly passed the Abortion Services (Safe Access Zones) Bill (Northern Ireland) (“SAZ Bill”) to create buffer zones around lawful abortion providers, in an attempt to criminalise the harassment and intimidation of people who seek or work in such places. On 2 December 2022, tired of the glacial pace and political controversy in commissioning abortion services, the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland moved to commission such services himself. In the interim, the Attorney General for Northern Ireland (“AGNI”) referred the SAZ Bill to the UK Supreme Court to determine whether it was lawful.’
UK Human Rights Blog, 14th December 2022
Source: ukhumanrightsblog.com
‘Emma-Louise Fenelon speaks with Jonathan Jones about recent developments in UK public law and the Constitution. The discussion covers recent political turbulence, the Union, the Northern Ireland Protocol, Judicial Review reforms, Human Rights Act reforms and standards and ethics in public life.’
Law Pod UK, 12th December 2022
Source: audioboom.com
‘Only a few short months on from the passing of the Northern Ireland (Ministers, Elections and Petitions of Concern) Act 2022 and legislation is once again before Westminster to amend the Northern Ireland Act 1998 – as everyone knew that it would be. One of the key innovations in the 2022 Act, belatedly giving effect to a proposal in the New Decade, New Approach Agreement of January 2020, was that during its 24-week post-election period Northern Ireland Executive ministers would continue to hold office and take decisions within their remit. This period prevented what Lord Bingham referred to in Robinson as a “persisting vacuum in the conduct of devolved government” (para 15). Its extended duration under the 2022 legislation was intended to provide a sufficient window after an election for a new power sharing administration to be formed, but to keep a count-down to new elections in place to focus Northern Ireland’s major parties towards that end. This arrangement, however, has proven no more effective as an impetus than the terms that it replaced.’
UK Constitutional Law Association, 29th November 2022
Source: ukconstitutionallaw.org
‘Proposed Government legislation to deal with the legacy of Northern Ireland’s Troubles risks widespread breaches of human rights law, a Westminster committee has found.’
The Independent, 26th October 2022
Source: www.independent.co.uk
‘The Northern Ireland Protocol Bill moves to its next stage in the House of Lords on Tuesday.’
BBC News, 25th October 2022
Source: www.bbc.co.uk
‘Liz Truss has just been voted by Conservative peers and members to be the next prime minister. The former secretary of state for foreign, commonwealth and development affairs has a track record of voting against human rights progression in the UK and as prime minister will be involved in policy decisions that will radically change rights protections. The first targets? Replacing the Human Rights Act (HRA) with a Bill of Rights and potentially withdrawing from the European Convention on Human Rights.’
Each Other, 5th September 2022
Source: eachother.org.uk
‘Human rights and civil liberty groups have criticised the government’s proposals to grant an effective amnesty for crimes committed as part of the Troubles in Northern Ireland. The ‘Troubles’ is a term used to describe a period of conflict in Northern Ireland that lasted over 30 years, up until the Good Friday Agreement was signed in 1998. The Northern Ireland Troubles (Legacy and Reconciliation) Bill attempts to address more than 1,000 unsolved killings. Now, rights groups have said the Bill violates the UK’s human rights obligations.’
Each Other, 10th August 2022
Source: eachother.org.uk
‘The EU has launched fresh legal action against the UK over its enforcement of post-Brexit trading rules in Northern Ireland.’
BBC News, 22nd July 2022
Source: www.bbc.co.uk
‘Five people were unlawfully killed by an IRA bomb in Guildford in 1974 which could have been planted by a “courting couple”, a coroner concluded.’
BBC News, 21st July 2022
Source: www.bbc.co.uk
‘In the aftermath of the US Supreme Court ruling in Dobbs v Jackson Women’s Health Organization attention has turned to whether abortion is adequately protected in the UK from the winds of political change. Given that in England, Scotland, and Wales abortion is provided for by ordinary Act of Parliament, and in Northern Ireland by Regulation, an orthodox view of the constitution indicates that it is not. In response to Dobbs it has been suggested that the pending Bill of Rights should be amended to provide for a right to abortion. That proposal was swiftly rejected by Dominic Raab on the basis that abortion is settled in UK law – a view that is somewhat contradicted by ongoing difficulties in respect of abortion in Northern Ireland.’
UK Constitutional Law Association, 11th July 2022
Source: ukconstitutionallaw.org
‘The Abortion Services (Safe Access Zones) Bill (Northern Ireland) has been referred to the UK Supreme Court. We explain why, and how a bill reference works.’
House of Commons Library , 4th July 2022
Source: commonslibrary.parliament.uk
‘Briefings on the Northern Ireland Protocol, including on EU-UK negotiations, Article 16, international law, and information on the UK Government announcement to change the Protocol through the Northern Ireland Protocol Bill.’
House of Commons Library , 26th June 2022
Source: commonslibrary.parliament.uk
‘The Northern Ireland Protocol is part of the Withdrawal Agreement, designed to set out the legal parameters of the withdrawal of the UK from the EU. The Government proposes to introduce legislation to unilaterally change the Protocol. On the face of it, this would appear to place the Government on the highway to a breach of international law. But are there any off-ramps which allow it to avoid this destination? This blog post examines one possible off-ramp, that this course of action is consistent with the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties 1969.’
UK Constitutional Law Association, 13th June 2022
Source: ukconstitutionallaw.org
‘The Times recently (11 May 2022) reported that the Attorney General, Suella Braverman, had received, and given, legal advice to the effect that proposed government action in relation to the Northern Ireland Protocol was compatible with international law. As I write, we have still not seen details of either the proposals or the legal arguments on which the government intends to rely. What is going on?’
UK Constitutional Law Associaiton, 30th May 2022
Source: ukconstitutionallaw.org
‘This appeal concerns the discount which convicted criminals in Northern Ireland are entitled to when they are sentenced.’
UKSC Blog, 18th May 2022
Source: ukscblog.com
‘The Northern Ireland Protocol is lawful, the Court of Appeal in Belfast has upheld. DUP leader Sir Jeffrey Donaldson said the legal challenge will now go to the Supreme Court.’
The Independent, 14th March 2022
Source: www.independent.co.uk
‘Lee v. the United Kingdom (application no. 18860/19). The European Court of Human Rights has, by a majority, declared the application inadmissible. The decision is final.’
UK Human Rights Blog, 7th January 2022
Source: ukhumanrightsblog.com
‘In one of its final decisions of 2021, McQuillan, McGuigan and McKenna, the UK Supreme Court addressed challenges to the effectiveness of police investigations into events which took place during the Northern Ireland conflict. The European Court has long maintained that the right to life (Article 2 ECHR) and the prohibition upon torture and inhuman and degrading treatment (Article 3 ECHR) carry with them positive obligations on the state to conduct effective investigations. These “legacy” cases not only draw the Courts into debates over some of the most contentious aspects of the Northern Ireland conflict, in particular the involvement of state agents in killings and the infliction of serious harms upon individuals, but they also pose questions about how human rights law applied in the context of Northern Ireland as a jurisdiction before the enactment of the Human Rights Act 1998.’
UK Human Rights Blog, 7th January 2022
Source: ukhumanrightsblog.com
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