This is not a blog post as such, but a compilation. I thought it might be useful to link to what I have had to say in the past several years on counter-terrorism, surveillance and countering extremism. Counter-Terrorism In this field, my successor Max Hill QC now holds the reins as Independent Reviewer of Terrorism Legislation (@terrorwatchdog). His first reports were published [...]
During this General Election campaign there have been several disputes over the application of pre-election purdah - ironically, a practice that was specifically designed to avoid imbroiling the Civil Service in controversy. My own last report as Independent Reviewer, on Deportation with Assurances, fell victim to purdah and has not yet been published, despite being submitted to the Government in final [...]
My article about Brexit and Security ("Terrorism: the EU picture") has just been published in Counsel Magazine. In summary: The leadership role in the EU exercised by the UK in matters relating to security (in particular counter-terrorism) will inevitably be lost after Brexit. There are reasons to hope that broadly satisfactory arrangements can be made for [...]
I spoke in December 2016 in Belfast to the Irish Centre for European Law and to the Northern Irish Judges on the subject of "Brexit and the Border". The NI/RoI border is twice the length of the Anglo-Welsh border, and three times the length of the Anglo-Scottish border. My talk sought to identify some of [...]
This post, composed immediately after judgment was handed down in this important case on 21 December 2016, encapsulates my reaction to it. Its possible implications for the Investigatory Powers Act 2016, for the other “bulk powers” used by UK intelligence agencies and others, for the developing case law of the European Court of Human Rights and [...]
This Working Paper, presented in Florence as a Distinguished Lecture at the European University Institute's summer course on EU law in July 2015, explored Britain's ambivalent relationship to Europe and gave five reasons why a vote to leave the EU - a distant possibility as the polls then stood - was a likely (though regrettable) outcome of the promised [...]
I had the great honour of giving the annual address at the annual Suffolk Justice Service in Bury St Edmunds Cathedral on 12 March 2017 - at the conclusion of my final term as Independent Reviewer, and just a few days before the attack in Westminster presaged the UK's worst year for terrorism since 2005. The two previous addresses, by Supreme Court [...]
As my six-year tenure as Independent Reviewer of Terrorism Legislation drew to a close, I spoke quite a bit to media about the job and my conclusions. A selection is here. Film about the Independent Reviewer's work for BBC2's Daily Politics, March 2016 Podcast of interview with Joshua Rozenberg for Law in Action, November 2016 Webcast [...]
I lectured to the Hart Judicial Review conference in December on recent developments in the case law concerning terrorism, surveillance and extremism. My handout is here and the accompanying PowerPoint presentation is here.
The Investigatory Powers Act 2016 became law on 29 November, when it received Royal Assent. It is currently being brought into force in stages. This post, originally composed on 3 December 2016, is my big-picture reaction to the Act, which was influenced by my reports A Question of Trust (June 2015) and Report of Bulk Powers Review (August [...]
