There was a distinct air of expectancy — although it was more resigned than keen — at “Brexit: A Constitutional Conversation for 2017” organised by Doughty Street Chambers and Hogan Lovells on Monday.
With Theresa May’s Brexit speech looming the next day, there was a tacit acknowledgement by the main speakers, Baroness Kennedy, QC, and Professor Paul Craig, of Oxford University, that the debate between hard and soft Brexits would shortly be definitively over. Nonetheless Kennedy lamented the misrepresentation of the UK as the passive recipient of oppressive EU rule. “British lawyers have played a large part in the development of EU law,” she pointed out. And the muddle in the minds of many people — including politicians — between the European Court of Justice and the European Court of Human Rights had created confusion over key issues. “Brexit is about people and not just about politics and business,” she said.
Judgment day
On the constitutional front there was still plenty to play for with the Supreme Court’s judgment on the role of parliament in triggering Article 50 imminent. Betting remains strongly in favour of the government losing. Judgment is delivered next Tuesday. “Sovereignty rests with parliament and has done so for 400 years,” Professor Craig emphatically told the audience. And as to quick trade agreements, the professor was pretty scathing. “The Canada-EU trade deal was 1,598 pages,” he said pointedly. No wonder the genial host, Charles Brasted, of Hogan Lovells, was predicting that they’d be kept pretty busy.
Bingo!
The importance of the rule of law for business was also centre stage at yesterday’s launch by the Bingham Centre (part of the British Institute of International and Comparative Law) of its business network, which has already won the backing of the FTSE 100 leaders BP, BT, Diageo, HSBC, Shell International, Unilever, and Vodafone, as well as Lord Thomas of Cwmgiedd, the lord chief justice. As Siobhan Moriarty, the general counsel at Diageo, put it: “Our ability to conduct our business can be adversely impacted by various risk factors, including uncertain investment environments, regulatory unpredictability and contractual enforceability challenges. For Diageo effective rule of law provides the clarity and structure enabling us to carry on business in an environment that mitigates these risks.” Future trade negotiators please take note.
edward.fennell@yahoo.co.uk