Two pieces of leaked news regarding Brexit have seen the pound rise to US $1.32 today. The first, reported in yesterday’s Times, was that agreement had been reached by the EU and the UK on financial services after Brexit. Nice, when it happens but of no immediate relevance. Any future relationship between the UK and the EU will have to be negotiated after Brexit. For now, the urgency is about the terms on which the UK leaves the EU and its position during the transition period after exit day while the new trade treaty is being negotiated with the EU. The withdrawal agreement covers: the position of EU citizens in the UK on exit day and the position of UK citizens in EU member states on exit day; the ‘divorce’ settlement to be paid by the UK; the avoidance of a hard border on the island of Ireland; the role of the CJEU in supervising the withdrawal treaty. It is the third of these that is proving most problematic.
Today’s news that the EU may be prepared to compromise on this issue is certainly of immediate relevance. The Financial Times reports that the E.U. is ready to offer the UK a “bare-bones” U.K.-wide customs union with the E.U. in the event of the Irish backstop being triggered.
But getting a withdrawal treaty agreed with the EU is one thing. Getting it through the UK Parliament is another.
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Professor Simon Baughen
Professor Simon Baughen was appointed as Professor of Shipping Law in September 2013 (previously Reader at the University of Bristol Law School). Simon Baughen studied law at Oxford and practised in maritime law for several years before joining academia. His research interests lie mainly in the field of shipping law, but also include the law of trusts and the environmental law implications of the activities of multinational corporations in the developing world. Simon's book on Shipping Law, has run to seven editions (soon to be eight) and is already well-known to academics and students alike as by far the most learned and approachable work on the subject. Furthermore, he is now the author of the very well-established practitioner's work Summerskill on Laytime. He has an extensive list of publications to his name, including International Trade and the Protection of the Environment, and Human Rights and Corporate Wrongs - Closing the Governance Gap. He has also written and taught extensively on commercial law, trusts and environmental law. Simon is a member of the Institute of International Shipping and Trade Law, a University Research Centre within the School of Law, and he currently teaches at Swansea on the LLM in:Carriage of Goods by Sea, Land and Air; Charterparties Law and Practice; International Corporate Governance.
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