Law and religion round-up – 1st March

And apart from the resignation of the Permanent Secretary of the Home Department…

we wish our readers Dydd Gŵyl Dewi Hapus, a day which also marks the start of celebrations to mark 800 years of worship at Bristol’s St Mark’s Church. This is claimed to be only place of worship in the UK belonging to a Lord Mayor and Commonality, and is designated a “Civic Peculiar”. We note that its peculiar status arises from the Lord Mayor’s jurisdiction over the chapel rather than his/her ownership of it. The Lord Mayor’s Chapel was built in 1220, originally as a monastery, and was purchased by the city in the 16th Century after a theological dispute with Bristol Cathedral.

Brexit

The Government has published The Future Relationship with the EU: The UK’s Approach to Negotiations, setting out its approach to the forthcoming negotiations with the EU. It does not deal with issues relating to the implementation of the Withdrawal Agreement and it reiterates at paragraph 5 that

“Whatever happens, the Government will not negotiate any arrangement in which the UK does not have control of its own laws and political life. That means that we will not agree to any obligations for our laws to be aligned with the EU’s, or for the EU’s institutions, including the Court of Justice, to have any jurisdiction in the UK.”

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