Friday 26 February 2021

Shamima Begum's appeal to UKSC dismissed


The Supreme Court of the UK has handed down judgment in the Shamima Begum case - see judgment dated 26 February 2021 - [2021] UKSC 7. - Lord Reed PSC, Lord Hodge DPSC, Lady Black, Lord Lloyd-Jones and Lord Sales. The judgment is unanimous.

The Supreme Court's webpage about the case is HERE and a Press Summary is available.

Earlier court decisions:

The main SIAC

Monday 22 February 2021

R (Good Law Project and others) v Secretary of State for Health and Social Care [2021] EWHC 346 (Admin)

The government and coronavirus:

The actions of the UK government in relation to the Coronavirus pandemic may, one day, be the subject of some form of inquiry and the Prime Minister is on parliamentary record to that effect - Hansard 15 July 2020.  In answer to a question from Sir Edward Davey MP (Kingston and Surbiton), Mr Johnson said - " ... but of course we will seek to learn the lessons of the pandemic in the future, and certainly we will have an independent inquiry into what happened."

That answer left open

UK Supreme Court - Uber BV and others v Aslam and others [2021] UKSC 5

The Queen's Speech in December 2019 envisaged an Employment Bill aimed at protecting and enhancing wokers' rights as the UK left the EU. The Bill would also build on existing employment law with measures to protect those in low-paid work and the gig economy - a labour market characterised by the prevalence of short-term contracts or freelance work, as opposed to permanent jobs. 14 months after the 2019 general election. the promised Bill has yet to presented by the government to Parliament.

A Dutch Company - Uber BV - owns the technology

Saturday 13 February 2021

Colin Norris ~ CCRC refers case to the Court of Appeal (Criminal Division)

Colin Norris Conviction:

On 3 March 2008 in the Crown Court at Newcastle upon Tyne, after a trial lasting five months before Griffith Williams J and a jury, Colin Norris was convicted of the murder of four elderly hospital patients and the attempted murder of another in the space of 6 months in two hospitals in Leeds in 2002. 

Norris worked as a nurse on orthopaedic wards at hospitals in Leeds, West Yorkshire. Many of the patients were elderly females, who had been admitted for surgery to deal with bones that had been broken following an accident. The most common injuries seen on those wards were hip fractures.  

The prosecution case at the trial was

Coronavirus Log - Part 7 - from 13 February 2021


This post is a continuation of the Coronavirus Log.  See Coronavirus Log Part 1 - (December 2019 to 28 April 2020) - Part 2 (29 April 2020 to 24 May 2020) - Part 3 (25 May to 21 June 2020) - Part 4 (22 June to 26 July 2020) - Part 5 (27 July to 1 November - Part 6 (2 November 2020 to 13 February 2021)

Position at 13 February 2021:

The national "lockdown" imposed on 6 January 2021 continues.

As at 13 February

Wednesday 10 February 2021

Hotel Quarantine ~ concerns : Guidance issued 11 February : Law issued 12 February

On 8 June 2020 quarantine requirements were introduced for arrivals in England - previous posts 5 June 2020.  Other parts of the United Kingdom followed suit with similar requirements.

Since June 2020, a number of changes have taken place to the regulations applicable to quarantine. The details of the changes are not considered further in this post which concentrates on the government's plans to introduce mandatory quarantine in hotels. The Health Secretary (Matt Hancock MP) announced to Parliament that this will take effect from 0400 am on 15 February 2021 and see, for example, The Guardian 9 February - Covid travel rule-breakers could face 10-year jail terms, says Hancock.

Mr Hancock said that the new system was for England but

Tuesday 2 February 2021

EU law and Domestic law: the on-going relationship (4) - Future relationship

This is the fourth post in a series considering how, post-Brexit, EU law continues to have influence in the legal systems of the UK. The series is an overview of this complex relationship.

In December 2020, after difficult negotiations, the EU and the UK finalised the Trade and Cooperation Agreement (TCA), the  Security Procedures for Exchanging and Protecting Classified Information Agreement (SOIA) and the Nuclear Cooperation Agreement (NCA). 

The European Union (Future Relationship) Act 2020 enables particular provisions in these Agreements to have effect in domestic law. This Act was enacted in one day (30 December 2020) and an earlier blogpost looked at the Bill as introduced to Parliament.

The Act's short title is abbreviated to EU(FR)A.

Monday 1 February 2021

EU law and Domestic law: the on-going relationship (3) - Relevant Separation Agreement law

 

This post continues the overview as to how EU law continues to have influence in the UK's domestic legal systems. 

An earlier post 28 January  set the general scene and the post on 30 January looked at Retained EU Law.

A further category - provided for by the European Union (Withdrawal Agreement) Act 2020 - is Relevant Separation Agreement Law.

The Withdrawal Act does much of its work by inserting additional sections into the European Union (Withdrawal) 2018 Act (link is to the latest available version).

Definition of Relevant Separation Agreement Law:

The term Relevant Separation Agreement Law is defined in the 2018 Act section 7C(3) - In this Act “relevant separation agreement law” means -