In his Kingsland memorial lecture last night, hosted by Policy Exchange, the former justice minister Nick Herbert MP argued that Britain should “leave the jurisdiction” of […]

This afternoon after Prime Minister’s questions Bill Cash MP (what would we do without him?) has secured a debate in Parliament about the legality of the “fiscal treaty” – the new agreement between EU member states other than Britain (and […]

Last week the European Commission took the first step towards European Court proceedings against Hungary, over the country’s controversial new constitution, which took effect at the start of the year.

Here’s the Commission’s press release. It summarises the […]

Jon Worth (surely Britain’s leading blogger on EU affairs) has the story that it’s now illegal to sell Marmite in Denmark. The Danish embassy has been anxious to stress that Marmite is not banned, but that is, I’m […]

Today the Times is running a (£) story headlined:

Cameron is cleared to defy Europe on human rights

The story is based on an eight-page memo prepared for Nick Clegg that Sam Coates has published on Twitter:

It’s not clear […]

I know I’ve been away a few weeks – we all need a blog break occasionally – but I’m back with a bang, with a piece at the Guardian Law website yesterday on William Hague’s proposed “national sovereignty” clause, […]

Following my post on the “legal bits” of the Labour manifesto, here’s my analysis of the most important Conservative proposals of particular legal interest. I warn you: this is a long one, and needs sub-headings.

Constitutional law

On the constitution, the Tories […]

For many years Eurosceptic Conservatives have wanted the UK to be “opted out” of EU social legislation – John Major negotiated an opt-out from the “social chapter” at Maastricht (though he seemed to get no thanks for that from his […]

This afternoon as part of his new EU policy, David Cameron promised a National Sovereignty Act, to make clear that British institutions ultimately rule on our relationship with the EU. I watched his speech, and thought he made a pretty […]

Lord Lester, writing in the Guardian today, explains why he resigned as the government’s independent adviser on constitutional change. I have some sympathy for Lord Lester – he had the experience (that many civil servants have had) of finding […]