Contributions
348 recent contributions in Hansard
HANSARDWithdrawal Agreement: Legal OpinionI know that the hon. Lady knows that I have not attempted to say something —[Interruption.] Of course there has been no amending of the treaty, but there has been a supplementary…12 Mar 2019HANSARDWithdrawal Agreement: Legal OpinionThe right hon. Gentleman seeks to give with one hand and take with the other. With the greatest of diffidence and respect, he is not quite right. The unilateral declaration is not…12 Mar 2019HANSARDWithdrawal Agreement: Legal OpinionI do not agree. My hon. Friend knows we have a difference of opinion, and I hope that he will move towards my position. I still hope that might be so, and I say that because one…12 Mar 2019HANSARDWithdrawal Agreement: Legal OpinionOf course I can confirm all those things, which are self-evident in the agreement. May I just point out to the right hon. Gentleman that although I am sure it is a clever forensic…12 Mar 2019HANSARDWithdrawal Agreement: Legal OpinionI do not agree with my right hon. and learned Friend, although I listen most carefully to him, as ever. The best endeavours duty was in the withdrawal agreement originally, but…12 Mar 2019HANSARDWithdrawal Agreement: Legal OpinionWhat I hope will not be lost on my hon. and right hon. Friends is why the hon. and learned Lady is insisting and pressing upon them the facts and matters that she has just been…12 Mar 2019HANSARDWithdrawal Agreement: Legal OpinionMy right hon. Friend has got paragraph 16 wrong, if I may respectfully say so. What it says was that I advised in the past that that was so. What I now consider, at paragraph 17,…12 Mar 2019HANSARDWithdrawal Agreement: Legal OpinionThe hon. Gentleman asks me about my opinion. He knows that my opinion is that there is no ultimate unilateral right out of this arrangement. The risk of that continues, but the…12 Mar 2019HANSARDWithdrawal Agreement: Legal OpinionIn my view, as a matter of law, the provisions relating to the timing of the efforts to be made in resolving withdrawal agreements make time of the essence in the negotiation of a…12 Mar 2019HANSARDWithdrawal Agreement: Legal OpinionWith permission, Mr Speaker, I would like to make a statement about my legal opinion on the joint instrument and unilateral declaration concerning the withdrawal agreement…12 Mar 2019HANSARDLeaving the EUThe priorities of my Office are published in the business plan. In relation to the UK’s withdrawal from the Union, my priority continues to be supporting the successfully delivery…07 Mar 2019HANSARDLeaving the EUThe hon. Lady knows that she is asking me questions that belong to the Department for Transport, not to me. These matters do not come to the Law Officers unless they have a Law…07 Mar 2019HANSARDEU Withdrawal Agreement: Northern IrelandThe hon. Gentleman may be right. There are many lawyers who are eminently capable of deciding whether I have got my judgment right or wrong.07 Mar 2019HANSARDEU Withdrawal Agreement: Northern IrelandI assure the hon. Gentleman that I shall be putting them to the star chamber of this House. I am delighted that there are eight very distinguished Members who are going to sit in…07 Mar 2019HANSARDEU Withdrawal Agreement: Northern IrelandThe plans for next week are not mine to decide, but what I can tell the hon. Gentleman is this: we are discussing detailed, coherent, careful proposals, and we are discussing text…07 Mar 2019HANSARDEU Withdrawal Agreement: Northern IrelandIt is Government policy to achieve the necessary change in the backstop that will cause me to review and change my advice. That is Government policy; that is the subject of the…07 Mar 2019HANSARDEU Withdrawal Agreement: Northern IrelandI regularly meet ministerial colleagues to discuss important issues of common interest, including matters relating to the United Kingdom’s exit from the Union. I am unable, I am…07 Mar 2019HANSARDLeaving the EUIt grieves me to have to say to the hon. Gentleman that he knows I will be bound, and am bound, by the Law Officers’ convention not to disclose either the fact or content of my…07 Mar 2019HANSARDEU Withdrawal Agreement: Northern IrelandI think the hon. and learned Lady knows that the Secretary of State has corrected those comments. I do not think it is necessary for me to advise her on the various matters that…07 Mar 2019HANSARDEU Withdrawal Agreement: Northern IrelandYes.07 Mar 2019