October 2025 – Public Law for Everyone
3 posts published by Mark Elliott during October 2025| Public Law for Everyone
3 posts published by Mark Elliott during October 2025| Public Law for Everyone
Now-published Government witness statements submitted to prosecutors in the China espionage case cast only limited light on what happened. In this post, I outline six key questions that remain to be answered by government ministers and the Crown Prosecution Service.| Public Law for Everyone
The Security Minister, Dan Jarvis, has made a statement to the House of Commons regarding the collapse of the prosecution of two individuals who had been accused of espionage contrary to section 1(1)(c) of the Official Secrets Act 1911. Following the Prime Minister’s remarks last week, and other Ministers’ comments in interviews since then, it has remained unclear why the case collapsed and what role, if any, the government played in its collapse. Does the Security Minister’s statement ...| Public Law for Everyone
The Prime Minister has claimed that his government’s hands are tied in relation to whether China constituted an ‘enemy’ for the purpose of a now-dropped criminal prosecution under…| Public Law for Everyone
Robert Jenrick MP, one of the two remaining contenders for the leadership of the Conservative Party, has made the UK’s withdrawal from the European Convention on Human Rights (‘ECHR’) a central par…| Public Law for Everyone
The rule of law is an axiomatic part of the British constitution. But in order to understand the rule of law properly, it is necessary to consider the specific principles for which it stands — and,…| Public Law for Everyone
4 posts published by Mark Elliott during October 2024| Public Law for Everyone
In a recently completed paper, Philip Murray and I develop a defence of what we term the classical account of administrative law. The question with which we are centrally concerned is whether (as t…| Public Law for Everyone
Today's Supreme Court’s judgment in Shvidler v Foreign Secretary addresses key issues about the role of courts generally and appellate courts in particular when it comes to applying the proportionality test — and a powerful dissent from Lord Leggatt discloses a sharp division of judicial opinion about the proper nature of the judicial role in this context.| Public Law for Everyone
Following a catastrophic administrative error placing the lives of thousands of Afghans at risk, the UK government obtained a super-injunction, enabling it to attempt to clear up the mess it had cr…| Public Law for Everyone
Calls for withdrawal and kneejerk defences of the status quo each risk oversimplifying the UK’s developing political debate about the European Convention on Human Rights. The implications of each position must at least be properly understood if the debate is to be a meaningful one. As the UK’s Labour government increasingly pursues an agenda apparently […]| Public Law for Everyone
The following, which is republished here with permission, is the foreword to the July 2025 issue of the Solicitors Journal, in which I note that the rule of law today finds itself under challenge i…| Public Law for Everyone
The Assisted Dying Bill has been approved by the House of Commons. But to become law, it also needs the approval of the House of Lords. What constitutional role will the Lords play in this process — and would it be undemocratic for the unelected upper chamber to block the Bill? The Terminally Ill Adults […]| Public Law for Everyone
The UK’s Justice Secretary has promised domestic legislation and called for wider ECHR reform because, she says, the application of human rights is now ‘out of step with common sense’. What does this tell us about the government’s broader commitment to human rights in the face of political pressure and shifting public opinion? In a […]| Public Law for Everyone
Government proposals to streamline judicial review of decisions authorising major infrastructure projects have been branded ‘Trumpian’. As well as being misplaced, such criticisms risk …| Public Law for Everyone
The new Attorney-General’s recent lecture on the rule of law makes all the right noises. But it remains to be seen whether the Labour Government will be willing to put its money, and its actions, w…| Public Law for Everyone
The Safety of Rwanda (Asylum and Immigration) Bill has been published with much fanfare, following the conclusion a treaty between the UK and Rwanda that provides for some asylum-seekers to be remo…| Public Law for Everyone
