Withdrawal Agreement: Attorney General’s legal opinion on the Joint Instrument and Unilateral Declaration Debate
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Lord Wallace of Tankerness
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Withdrawal Agreement: Attorney General’s legal opinion on the Joint Instrument and Unilateral Declaration
Lord Wallace of Tankerness Excerpts(5 years, 8 months ago)
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Lord Keen of Elie
My Lords, I concur with both of my noble friend’s observations.
Lord Wallace of Tankerness (LD)
My Lords, the noble and learned Lord emphasised the importance in the joint instrument of urgency. Indeed, paragraph 7 of the Attorney-General’s opinion today states:
“Therefore, provided the United Kingdom can clearly demonstrate in practice that it is effectively organised and prepared to maintain the urgent pace of negotiations that they imply, the EU could not fail to match it without being at risk of breaching the best endeavours obligation”.
As the Minister has emphasised that this is political, perhaps rather more than legal, I ask him a political question. Can he give the House three examples of when, since March 2017, the United Kingdom Government, in dealing with Brexit, have clearly demonstrated in practice that it is effectively organised?
Lord Keen of Elie
Respectfully, it appears to me that we have demonstrated that throughout the process.