Civil Society Alliance
So Long, Farewell, Auf Wiedersehen, Goodbye

This is the final edition of our weekly e:bulletin as the Brexit Civil Society Alliance comes to an end this week. With the project wrapping up I wanted to have a special edition of the final bulletin where I share with you some of the resources we have created over the past few years of our work. I hope the bulletin has proved useful in keeping you up to date with Brexit happenings. I also hope you enjoy the resources outlined today! As usual there is some recommended reading for your Friday.

Civil Society Alliance
No Thanks M'Lords

This week the Government defeated amendments to give Parliament a greater role in future trade deals as it voted against multiple Lords Amendments to the Trade Bill. This week, we also published our new report “Seizing the Opportunity: The case for embracing civil society’s role in democracy” by Kathryn Sturgeon. You can download it today. As usual we have recommended reading for your Friday.

Civil Society Alliance
Bills To Be Paid

With the Brexit deal agreed what will come next? The FT reported this week that plans are already underway to regress on workers’ rights and some Brexit Bills are still making their way through parliament. We also have a guest piece from Kathryn Sturgeon about our new report “Seizing the Opportunity: the case for embracing civil society’s role in democracy.” As usual we have recommended reading for your Friday.

Civil Society Alliance
It's A New Year, It's A New Deal

Happy New Year! A trade deal between the EU and UK was agreed while we were all busy eating our Christmas dinner. In today’s E:Bulletin we look at some of the key parts you should be aware of. We have a new report about the case for embracing civil society in democracy coming out in January and we’d love to see you at our launch event (details below). As usual we have recommended reading for your Friday.

Civil Society Alliance
Is A Deal In The Oven?

This week talks over dinner between Boris Johnson and Ursula von der Leyen didn’t amount to much other than a new deadline for negotiations. This Sunday was picked as a deadline for a “firm decision”. Negotiations have been bubbling away for a long time now with the same three topics (fisheries, level playing field, and sovereignty) causing disagreements for both sides. We find out next week if a decision has been made.

Meanwhile, we have two excellent new podcast episodes out for you to listen to. A two part series about how ministers make law using delegated legislation, what the issues with this are, how it has affected the process of legislating for Brexit, and how you can campaign on it. We also look ahead to events in Parliament and as usual have recommended reading for your Friday.

Newsletter

On to the Next Act.

This week the Withdrawal Agreement Bill became the Withdrawal Agreement Act and therefore, pending ratification by the EU, the UK will leave the EU on the 31st January. While this feels to some like the end this is just the beginning of a complicated negotiation. This week we go over the bills passage through Parliament, what next and what the Government has signalled it will look for in the future relationship.

Will he, won't he?

We are in unprecedented times indeed when we find ourselves, time and time again having to contemplate whether the Prime Minister will comply with the law. Contradictory statements are repeatedly emerging from No 10- ‘we will leave on the 31st October come what may but we will also comply with the Benn Act’ (both of which cannot be true at the same time). Only time will tell what comes next, but this week’s ruling from the Scottish Court of Session puts Johnson in a bind.