Matrix’s Legal Support Service provides a weekly round-up of Brexit-related links and news.

Brexit and the UK constitution

1. UK in a Changing Europe argues that as the Brexit process rolls on, “debate about the proper locus of political power within the UK is becoming as fraught as that over a new UK-EU relationship”.
2. The Northern Ireland Select Committee produced a report, The land border between Northern Ireland and Ireland, seeking to make recommendations to inform the Government’s position as we enter the next phase of negotiations on the UK’s exit from the EU.
3. According to The Guardian, the Government has defended asking businesses to sign secrecy agreements in private discussions about the UK’s future border arrangements with the EU, which reportedly include laying out scenarios for a no-deal Brexit.
4. In The Times Lord David Pannick QC discusses “one of the difficult and important issues raised by the European Union (Withdrawal) Bill … how our judges should deal with judgments of the Court of Justice of the EU (CJEU) delivered after we leave the EU”. He looks at clause 6(2) of the bill, were debated last week during the Committee Stage of the Bill in the House of Lords (paywall). Bircham Dyson Bell’s Great Repeal Bill Blog looks at the first 5 days of the Lord’s Committee Stage.
5. There are reports that a data marketing firm appeared to propose raising money from Brexit-supporting foreign donors on behalf of the Leave.EU campaign, in breach of UK election law. The pitch document was supplied at the request of the Commons’ DCMS Select Committee.

The UK’s post-Brexit deal with the EU

1. Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn has said Brexit will put a stop to firms “importing cheap labour” to undercut the wages of UK workers at the Labour Party Scottish Conference, showing the direction of travel in the deal they would seek. At the same conference, the party dodged a commitment to staying in the Single Market.
2. David Davis says he could live with shorter Brexit transition period. Davis told BBC Newsnight: “I’m not bothered too much about the question of whether it is Christmas 2020 or Easter 2021.”
3. The Times has learned that Britain will be free to sign trade deals during the Brexit transition period without permission from the EU (paywall).
4. Germany’s BDI industry federation is advocating a customs union with the UK after Brexit, pointing to the economic hit caused by a more basic free trade agreement.
5. The Commons’ Foreign Affairs Select Committee reports on the Government’s objectives for “Global Britain” and makes recommendations.
6. The FT’s economics team looks at what a UK-EU free trade agreement would change from the status quo.

Impact of Brexit on the economy

1. The Chairman of the Office for Budget Responsibility released a presentation on their latest economic and fiscal forecast. The OBR estimates the cost of the “Brexit divorce bill” to be £37bn.
2. More than three-quarters of the economic impact of Brexit will fall on five sectors, according to a study by consultancy Oliver Wyman and Clifford Chance. In Costing Brexit: what is Whitehall spending on
   exiting the EU?, the Institute for Government claims that there will be a £2bn bill to hire the manpower needed to prepare for Brexit.
3. For the LSE’s Brexit Blog, Josh de Lyon examines the models behind the competing analyses of the economic consequences of Brexit.
4. Germany’s BDI industry federation is advocating a customs union with the UK after Brexit, pointing to the economic hit caused by a more basic free trade agreement.

Brexit as it affects Practice Areas:

Competition and Regulatory

Robin Walker MP, the Undersecretary of State for the Department for Exiting the European Unionh, as argued in The Times “We will continue to champion consumer rights after Brexit” (paywall).

Health

Think-tank UK in a Chaging Europe argues that Brexit is forecast to mean less money for public services generally, including the NHS, due to lower economic growth and productivity – and looks at what this might mean for public health.