Here is a further Opinion on the legal effects of the Prime Minister’s Brexit deal. A sequel to the one published on Tuesday, it addresses the novel suggestion – attributed this week to the Attorney General – that the UK could pull out of the Northern Ireland Backstop either unilaterally, via Article 62 of the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties, or through the arbitration mechanism established by the Withdrawal Agreement.
We conclude that:
the new propositions put forward by the Attorney General do not provide any justification for adjusting his previous assessment of the legal risk that the UK will be held in the backstop against its will.
This Opinion was co-authored, like its predecessor, by Jason Coppel QC and Sean Aughey. Our team was joined this time by the distinguished Public International Law silk Sam Wordsworth QC. You can read more about the authors in the press release put out by People’s Vote UK, at whose request we gave our independent advice.
