How can the UK improve treaty scrutiny? MPs ask international law experts
In its seventh session of its inquiry on the scrutiny of international agreements, the Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee questions leading academics in international law and public policy on examples of international best practice and potential reforms to the current mechanisms for scrutinising of international agreements.
Meeting details
Since the UK left the EU, the previous scrutiny mechanisms are no longer in place for international agreements reached by the UK. Parliament may now have less access to information from the Government than it had while the UK was in the EU.
The session aims to uncover how the UK can bring its treaty-making and scrutiny process in line with today’s international best practice. To better understand this, MPs will compare the UK system for negotiating, agreeing, and implementing international agreements with other countries.
While on a committee visit to Gibraltar last week as part of this inquiry, Chair William Wragg MP said:
“We accept that previous arrangements for treaty negotiation before the UK’s membership of the European Union date back to precedents in the 1920s. That is what has given us the enthusiasm to carry out this inquiry, so we can make recommendations and show there isn’t a void.”