Implications of Brexit for environmental assessment in the United Kingdom – results from a 1-day workshop at the University of Liverpool (original) (raw)
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The prospect of the UK leaving the European Union poses significant challenges for UK environmental law. Fundamentally, this is because environmental issues, both legal and physical, cannot be hermetically sealed within a single jurisdiction. Environmental law is an inherently multi-jurisdictional and transnational enterprise, making the EU a highly competent regulatory actor in pursuing many environmental objectives. Initially, Brexit appears to pose mainly technical challenges for UK environmental law, but these challenges reflect more fundamental normative and institutional issues. There is a complex legal task ahead in translating and disaggregating an extensive and intricate EU environmental acquis into ‘sovereign’ UK environmental law. Whilst the UK government has indicated that current EU law, including EU environmental law, will initially be ‘converted’ into domestic UK law by legal mechanisms introduced through a ‘Great Repeal Bill’, this apparently simple technical manoeuv...
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Environmental law and policy was not a prominent feature of debate or discussion during the Brexit referendum campaign of 2016. Nor has it been a significant feature of the post referendum discourse on the future of the UK’s relationship with the European Union (EU). However, the lack of media attention given to this aspect of the UK’s current membership of the EU belies the fact that the EU’s environmental acquis has had an increasingly significant influence in shaping UK environmental policy since its accession in 1973. EU law and policy are key to the UK’s approach to water, air and nature conservation. Consequently, the forthcoming rupture in relations that will be a consequence of even a soft Brexit raises important questions for those concerned to at least maintain current levels of UK environmental protection post Brexit. This paper explores the potential impact of Brexit on environmental protections within the UK. To do so it will address two issues. Firstly, it will provide...
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The United Kingdom (UK)'s political divorce of the European Union (EU),or 'Brexit' will have some implications for many policy areas because of the complex institutional web of the EU not least the fact that the EU's environmental policy is integrated into the UK's policy. Thus, disentangling and reconfiguring the UK's environmental policy seems necessary to circumvent environmental regulatory gaps. Scholars argue Brexit will provide the UK with the opportunity to amend its environmental policy not only to fill loopholes but also ensure that environmental protection is guaranteed. This paper highlights the factors that could influencethe UK's environmental policy amendment because of Brexit. Gaps in the European Union Withdrawal Bill, trade deals, economic outlook and other circumstances are pivotal.
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Edinburgh Law Review, 2018
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