It is Brexit (5) - European Council 28th June 2016 (with UK) and 29th (without UK)

Here are the "conclusions" of the European Council meeting held on 28th June 2016 attended by the Prime Minister -  Conclusions.   The conclusions succinctly state:

IV. OUTCOME OF THE UK REFERENDUM

23. The UK Prime Minister informed the European Council about the outcome of the referendum in the UK.

The post-meeting remarks of the European Council President, Mr Donald Tusk,.  The following was part of the remarks:

It is Brexit (4) ~ Legal consequences

The Civil Litigation Brief  website has numerous articles on Brexit: The Legal Consequences.  Several subject areas are addressed including Article 50 and legal arguments about the process of Brexit. 

28th June 2016

• The UK Constitutional Law Association Brexit, the Referendum and the UK Parliament: Some questions about Sovereignty. 
• Legal Business The referendum now poses a serious threat to Parliamentary Sovereignty. 

It is Brexit (3) - The role of Parliament under Article 50

About a week before the referendum I met with a few friends and discussed the possibility that the UK would actually vote to leave the EU and I posted the outcome of that discussion - UK and the EU (11) - The event horizon approaches - What if it is Brexit.  We tried to envisage how things might go after such a referendum result and sought to identify some of the legal questions that would arise.

Now that the decision of the referendum is to leave, many of those questions are receiving some serious attention including the all-important notification (under TEU Art 50) of a "decision in accordance with constitutional requirements" to withdraw from the EU.

A key question is what amounts to such a "decision" because without such a decision there is nothing to notify.

Article 50:

Article 50(1) of the Treaty on European Union (TEU) is worded in a simple way -  "Any Member State may decide to withdraw from the Union in accordance with its own constitutional requirements."   If a State decides to leave then Article 50(2) requires the State to notify the European Council of its intention.

The Chagos Islands

On Wednesday 29th June the Supreme Court will hand down judgment in R (Bancoult - No.2 v Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs) - (2015 UKSC 0021).  The appellant, Mr Louis Olivier Bancoult, seeks to overturn a 2008 judicial decision of the House of Lords.

The British Indian Ocean Territory (Constitution) Order 2004 was made, using prerogative powers, by the Privy Council.  Section 9 of the Order was challenged by way of judicial review in the High Court (Hooper LJ and Cresswell J) and that court held it to be invalid.  Section 9 removed any right of abode for the Chagossian people (and for any others) in the Chagos Islands.   The Court of Appeal (Civil Division) - Sir Anthony Clarke MR, Waller and Sedley LJJ - affirmed the High Court's decision.   The House of Lords reversed the decision by a 3 to 2 majority and held section 9 to be valid.  Lords Hoffman, Rodger and Carswell were the majority and Lords Bingham and Mance were in the minority.

Interestingly,

It is Brexit (2) ~ A short note on developments since Thursday 23rd June.

A short note on some of the developments since the Referendum on 23rd June.

1. The European Council has issued this statement - Statement by the EU leaders and the Netherlands Presidency on the outcome of the UK referendum.

"We now expect the United Kingdom government to give effect to this decision of the British people as soon as possible, however painful that process may be. Any delay would unnecessarily prolong uncertainty. We have rules to deal with this in an orderly way. Article 50 of the Treaty on European Union sets out the procedure to be followed if a Member State decides to leave the European Union.

It is BREXIT (1) - The overall vote was to leave the EU

The United Kingdom referendum on EU membership resulted in a LEAVE vote of 17,410,742 (51.9%) and a Remain vote of 16,141,241 (48.1%) - see Electoral Commission and Telegraph for full details.  The turnout was 72.2%

Scotland and Northern Ireland both voted overwhelmingly for the UK to Remain in the EU.  The implications of this will become apparent over the next few weeks. Even though the question put to voters was whether the UNITED KINGDOM should remain or leave, there can be no doubt that voters in Scotland and Northern Ireland would have been voting for what they perceived to be in the best interests of those nations.

The Prime Minister will resign in the early autumn- Prime Minister's Statement 24th June.  That does not automatically result in a General Election.  In law, the government is Her Majesty's Government and, formally, HM The Queen appoints the Prime Minister though in doing so she will act within constitutional conventions.

The formal process of leaving under the Treaty on European Union Article 50 will not begin until a new Prime Minister is in place.  Mr Cameron said -

Ellie Butler

On 28th October 2013, Ellie Butler (age 6) was murdered by her father Ben Butler - BBC News 22nd June 2016.

On 21st June, Ellie's parents - Ben Butler and Jennie Gray - were sentenced at the Central Criminal Court - see the Sentencing Remarks of Mr Justice Wilkie.   Ben Butler was sentenced to life imprisonment for murder and the judge fixed his minimum term at 23 years (less days on remand).  He also received 5 years for Child Cruelty.  Those sentences will run concurrently.  Jennie Gray was sentenced to 18 months imprisonment for Child Cruelty and 24 months for Perverting the Course of Justice.  Her sentences are consecutive.