Can Parliament scrutinise treaties in any meaningful way?
The House of Lords Constitution Committee will hold its first evidence session as part of its inquiry on Parliamentary Scrutiny of Treaties on Wednesday 21 November.
The inquiry has been launched to look at Parliament's current limited system of treaty scrutiny. The Committee will examine Parliament's role to ensure that it is sufficiently robust to deal with potentially many more treaties after the UK leaves the EU.
Speaking to the Committee at 11:30am will be:
- Professor David Howarth, University of Cambridge
- Professor Elaine Fahey, City Law School, University of London
- Dr Mario Mendez, Queen Mary, University of London
The session will focus on the current system of parliamentary scrutiny of treaties, treaty scrutiny in other countries, and devolution. Questions are likely to include:
- Under the current system for negotiating and approving treaties, is the balance of power between Parliament and the Government appropriate?
- How should Parliament scrutinise treaties after Brexit?
- How effective is the European Parliament's influence over, and scrutiny of, treaties?
- Are there example of treaty scrutiny in other countries that we might learn from?
- What role should the devolved governments and the devolved legislatures have in treaty negotiation and ratification?
The session will begin at 11.30am in Committee Room 1.
