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Former Foreign Secretaries give evidence to Committee

9 January 2019

The House of Lords Constitution Committee will hear from former Foreign Secretaries Jack Straw and Sir Malcolm Rifkind as part of its inquiry on Parliamentary Scrutiny of Treaties.

Witnesses

Wednesday 9 January in Committee Room 1, Palace of Westminster

At 10.45am

  • Rt Hon. Jack Straw

Then at 11.30am

  • Rt Hon. Sir Malcom Rifkind

Possible questions

  • How effective is parliamentary scrutiny of treaties?
  • Is it appropriate that Parliament's role in the treaty-making process is limited to a "take it or leave it" vote after a treaty has been signed by the Government?
  • If  Parliament played a more active role in the mandating and negotiating phases of the treaty process, to what extent would this help or hinder the Government?
  • Has the influence and involvement of Number 10 and other government departments in the making of foreign policy changed how the Government negotiates treaties?
  • Does the loss of  EU scrutiny processes post-Brexit require Parliament to create new scrutiny mechanisms of its own to replace them?
  • To what extent is there a case for Parliament to scrutinise treaties post-implementation?

Further information

Image: Parliamentary copyright