• In Focus

    Covid-19: Winter rough sleeping plan

    Rough sleepers have been identified as an at-risk group who are vulnerable to contracting and spreading Covid-19. The Government has launched several schemes to support local authorities and their partners to provide covid-secure accommodation to those sleeping rough or at risk of sleeping rough. In November 2020, the Government launched the Protect programme, which provides targeted funding throughout the winter to support areas with high numbers of rough sleepers.

  • In Focus

    Draft Customs Safety, Security and Economic Operators Registration and Identification (Amendment etc) (EU Exit) Regulations 2020

    After the transition period, customs procedures for goods arriving from the EU will change. These regulations would amend earlier regulations by: delaying until 1 July 2021 the requirement for entry summary declarations for goods coming from the EU to Great Britain; introducing shorter deadlines for submitting exit and entry summary declarations for goods being moved to/from certain territories by short sea journeys; and correcting issues relating to economic operators registration and identification requirements.

  • In Focus

    Regulation of organic products and genetically modified organisms

    The regulation of organic products, and of genetically modified organisms, is based on EU law. The European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018 brings this EU law into UK statute, so that it will continue to have effect after the end of the transition period. Amendments since have ensured that the retained law refers to the UK system, not the EU. However, under the Northern Ireland Protocol, Northern Ireland will remain subject to the EU’s laws. This article looks at two statutory instruments that further amend the 2019 regulations so that they refer only to Great Britain, enabling Northern Ireland to continue to meet EU law.

  • In Focus

    Flags on Northern Ireland government buildings

    The draft Flags (Northern Ireland) (Amendment) (No. 2) Regulations 2020 would make changes to regulations governing the flying of flags on government buildings in Northern Ireland. They would remove one building from the list of sites where the Union flag must be flown and add two others. They would also add the birthdays of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, and of the Duchess of Cornwall, to the dates on which the Union flag must be flown.

  • In Focus

    Bullying allegations, the Home Secretary and the ministerial code

    On 2 March 2020, the Minister for the Cabinet Office, Michael Gove, confirmed that his department would investigate alleged breaches of the ministerial code by the Home Secretary, Priti Patel. As at 29 October 2020, the results of that investigation are unclear. The issue of when a report may be published will be the subject of an oral question in the House of Lords on 2 November 2020.

  • In Focus

    Changes to the planning system in England: Permitted development rights and use classes

    In August and September 2020, the Government made several changes to the planning system in England. It introduced secondary legislation creating new permitted development rights and making changes to use classes. Five of these statutory instruments are being debated in the House of Lords on 27 October 2020. This article provides a summary of these instruments and the scrutiny they have received so far in Parliament.

  • In Focus

    Covid-19 local alert levels: Three-tier system for England

    On 12 October 2020, the Government announced a new system of local Covid-19 alert levels in England. Areas would be categorised as either ‘medium’, ‘high’ or ‘very high’. Different restrictions intended to combat the spread of Covid-19 would be in place based on the alert level in a local area. This article summarises the regulations establishing this new system and the reaction from the local areas affected.

  • Research Briefing

    United Kingdom Internal Market Bill: Briefing for Lords Stages

    The United Kingdom Internal Market Bill is a government bill that would make provision for the continuation of the UK’s single market when the transition period ends on 31 December 2020. As part of this it would provide for the ‘market access principles’ of mutual recognition and non-discrimination to apply to the sale of goods and the provision of services within the UK. It also seeks to provide unfettered access for qualifying Northern Ireland goods to the market in Great Britain. It contains provisions that seek to give ministers the power to unilaterally interpret, modify the application of or disapply parts of the Northern Ireland Protocol, notwithstanding their obligations under relevant international and domestic law.

  • In Focus

    Covid-19 regulations: Face coverings—updates

    During the Covid-19 pandemic, the Government has introduced requirements to wear face coverings in specified locations. These have been updated several times, to broaden the scope of the rules and to increase the financial penalties for non-compliance. This article looks at the requirements imposed by three instruments that came into force on 23 and 24 September 2020 and are being debated in the House of Lords on 12 October 2020.

  • In Focus

    Birmingham, Sandwell and Solihull: Restrictions on meetings of households

    On 11 September 2020, the Government announced that it would be creating new ‘local lockdown’ restrictions in Birmingham, Sandwell and Solihull. These regulations came into force on 15 September 2020. Under the regulations, those living within these areas are prohibited from meeting different households in private dwellings either within or outside the protected area (except for linked households). This article provides a summary of these regulations and their scrutiny in Parliament. It also considers how people in the areas affected have responded to the new restrictions.

  • In Focus

    60th anniversary of US televised presidential debates

    The first televised US presidential debate between candidates took place on 26 September 1960. However, in 1954 a form of televised debate had taken place. Unlike the debate in 1960, this debate took place between two surrogates of the presidential candidates—Senator Margaret Chase Smith for Republican nominee Dwight Eisenhower and Eleanor Roosevelt for Democrat nominee Adlai Stevenson. But it was in 1960 that the candidates themselves took part in three rounds of debates for the first time. Each was broadcast directly to US citizens’ homes via television and over the radio.

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