On June 1st Richard Macrory was invited to speak  in the House of Commons Library to researchers from the UK Parliament and Devolved Administrations on Brexit and environmental law. The panel of speakers included Victoria Jenkins from Swansea University and Navraj Ghaleigh from the University of Edinburgh. Richard focussed on international environmental law and the extent to which the UK will remain bound by international conventions after Brexit. There was a lively discussion on the challenges for Parliament and the devolved legislatures in monitoring regulatory developments following Great Repeal Bill.

Richard Macrory is co-chair of the UK Environmental Law Association’s Brexit Working Party. UKELA was neutral on the Brexit referendum, but is working to ensure the UK environmental law is not jeopardized following the UK’s departure from the EU.  Former DEFRA lawyer Rosie Oliver and barrister Joe Newbigdin have been  employed by UKELA to research on environmental law issues, and the Faculty has kindly provided them with desk space over the next six months. This month the first newsletter outlining current activities has been published. Brexit newsletter 01

The House of Lords European Union Committee published  its report “Brexit: environment and climate change” on February 14.  The wide-ranging report gives a valuable overview of policy and legal challenges that will emerge over the next few years.  It notes:

“Policy stability will be critical during the process of, and in the immediate aftermath of, withdrawing from the EU to avoid the emergence of legislative gaps and avoidable uncertainties in the sphere of environmental protection. Once the UK has withdrawn from the EU, environment legislation and policy will be more vulnerable to short term and less predictable changes at a domestic level”.

Professor Maria Lee, director of the Centre, and Professor Richard Macrory gave oral evidence to the Committee at the end of last year and their views feature prominently in the report.

House of Lords Report

Brexit-Environment-Climate-Change-Written-Oral-Evidence-Volume 2

House of Lords Macrory supplementary note 2

BREXIT represents a major challenge for the future of UK Environmental Law.  Professor Richard Macrory has been appointed co-chair of the UK Environmental Law Association’s Brexit Task Force – its immediate task is examining how EU environmental law has been integrated into the national system, and the extent to which the “Great Repeal Bill” (expected in May) is able, in the interests of legal stability,  to achieve its objectives of rolling over EU law until the opportunity is taken for review and reform.