Brexit trade deal legislation being drawn up! (4k)

With just forty days to go to freedom day, we hear that the UK government is drawing up Brexit trade deal legislation that could be debated in Parliament within days or weeks. But ... is there time to ratify a treaty with the EU before the first of January?

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Brexit trade deal legislation being drawn up!

According to Whitehall leaks, the PM, Boris Johnson, is having Brexit trade deal legislation drawn up by officials for a deal that could be agreed very quickly.
These texts would then presumably be sent under wraps to UK government departments to have the UK legislation drawn up to support them.

That way, when the deal is presented to Parliament, it would have a whole raft of legislation to go with it that can be debated and voted on to quickly get it in place.

And I think it would have to have legislation attached to it in any event, as we are now inside the 21 day's Parliament sitting time to ratify a treaty in the usual way.

Under standard treaty procedure, a treaty has to be laid before Parliament for 21 sitting days before it can be ratified.

Parliament is due to rise on Thursday the 17th of December. And as it only sits from Monday to Thursday, that means as of this coming Monday there are only 16 sitting days remaining this year.

The 21-day requirement stems from the Constitutional Reform and Governance Act 2010, or CRAG.

An insight paper from the House of Commons Library called "UK Parliament's role in ratifying a UK-EU future relationship treaty" explains:

"Treaty-making is a prerogative power. This means the UK Government, rather than Parliament, negotiates on behalf of the UK in the international arena. However, prerogative powers are exercised subject to statutory constraints."

And the statutory constraint here is the CRAG. The insight paper continues:

"Before a treaty can be ratified, a copy must be laid before Parliament. This allows MPs and Peers to see what has been negotiated, for committees to take expert advice on its contents (should they wish), and for parliamentarians to reach an informed view on the Treaty's overall merits. At this stage it is too late to amend the Treaty."

The Treaty also has to be accompanied by an explanation paper detailing the treaty provisions and why the government is pushing it.

"The default rule under section 20 of CRAG is that, after a treaty has been laid, both Houses are given time to scrutinise its contents and, potentially, to object to ratification (by passing a resolution).

"This period begins on the first sitting day after the Treaty has been laid, and ends after the 21st sitting day. A day only counts as a sitting day if both the Commons and Lords are sitting.

"A minister can extend the 21 sitting day period, but Parliament cannot force them to do so."

And the House of Lords cannot block a treaty, it can only object to it, and the government can just ignore that objection anyway.

The House of Commons can block it if it votes against the Treaty within the 21 day period, but the government can keep pressing on and represent it every 21 days until MPs stop voting against it.

Now, on ratifying this Treaty, the insight piece says:

"If the Government laid a UK-EU treaty on Wednesday 18 November 2020, and Parliament sat on every Monday to Thursday up to and including Christmas Eve, that Treaty could be ratified from Christmas Day. It could therefore come into force at the end of transition.

"If a deal were to be reached later, however, further sitting days would be needed. These could be on Fridays, Saturdays or Sundays and/or between Christmas Day and New Year's Eve."

Now that'll please our MPs and Lords, not a lot, wouldn't it? Sat in session instead of gorging on Fortnum and Mason's partridge and champagne Christmas hampers.

Now, there is a section in CRAG (section 22) that would allow for this UK-EU Treaty to be classed as an exceptional case. On this, the insight paper says:

"Section 22 is one way the Government might get around that problem, but it would leave Parliament less time to scrutinise the treaty text, and could prevent a vote on the treaty itself from taking place."

And then there's the way that I would think was the most foolproof. And according to Lord David Frost, the UK Brexit negotiator, the government is assuming primary legislation will be used.

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Видео Brexit trade deal legislation being drawn up! (4k) канала Jeff Taylor