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George Peretz QC Profile picture
George Peretz QC
@GeorgePeretzQC
QC (E&W) BL (Irl): public/constitutional law, competition, subsidies, tax, trade. Also political theory/history. Views mine and not those of Monckton Chambers.
4 subscribers
Oct 6, 2018 • 8 tweets • 2 min read
Worth recalling, before we commit to the Withdrawal Agreement transition period, quite how extraordinary it is, in democratic terms, that the U.K. will be immediately and automatically be bound by law and decisions it which it and its voters will play no part. See eg from the FT article quoted by Kirsty.
Oct 4, 2018 • 14 tweets • 3 min read
I have a hunch that one of the two factors that rule out hard Brexit (no deal or even “Canada +++” as a 2020 option) in the PM’s mind is the fear that Nissan/JLR/Toyota would close a large factory and blame Brexit. (The other - more acknowledged - is the Irish border.)
Oct 3, 2018 • 6 tweets • 1 min read
VAT/Brexit thought for the day. When hard Brexiters point out that @BorderIrish is already a “VAT border” they ignore two vital points. 1. Since it’s currently a border between two EU Member States, VAT isn’t payable on importation (ie at the border), but only when the purchaser does its VAT return. So no border infrastructure is needed now: but it will be needed when VAT has to be paid at the border.
Oct 2, 2018 • 4 tweets • 2 min read
Quite. Since this will be reciprocal, we need to ask what access we want *our* young people, retirees, musicians/consultants, UK employees moving to offices on the continent etc to have to the EU before deciding what arrangements we want for EU citizens moving here. That question - what access do we want our employees, young people, retirees, musicians, consultants, other self-employed to have to our closest and huge neighbour, the EU - never seems to be asked, though. Perhaps @bbcnickrobinson will ask the PM on @BBCr4today?
Sep 30, 2018 • 7 tweets • 2 min read
There are a number of fatal problems with this approach, if it is one that is commending itself to Labour’s leadership. theguardian.com/business/2018/… 1. As I explained here, the commitment to a customs union means that the State aid pass has *already* been sold.
Sep 28, 2018 • 5 tweets • 1 min read
This is a fascinating case for anyone interested in the philosophy of citizenship/political obligation. The article is right that the Court of Appeal dealt rather unimpressively with what is a key question for any democratic polity: who do you accept as being a member of it, entitled to a voice in its politics?
Sep 25, 2018 • 8 tweets • 2 min read
My point yesterday on the medicines section of the @iealondon @ShankerASingham paper is an example of a wider problem with the IEA/Singham approach: lack of honesty about trade offs. The example there was failing to be honest about the fact that separate U.K. regulation means delayed drugs. But there are other examples.
Sep 24, 2018 • 9 tweets • 2 min read
Round 3 of comments on bits of the @iealondon @ShankerASingham report which fall within my areas of expertise. (I did medicines and aviation earlier: we move on to competition.)
Sep 24, 2018 • 5 tweets • 2 min read
Very interesting. As a lawyer, I’d add the observation that claims of growth from deregulation require precision about exactly what deregulation you are envisaging. Anyone can grumble - as @iealondon and @ShankerASingham do in this report - about labour, environmental, data protection and agri-food rules. But the only thing that counts is specific proposals to reform them. Anything else is patter designed to conceal prestidigitation.
Sep 24, 2018 • 4 tweets • 2 min read
This bit of the @iealondon @ShankerASingham report would have been more impressive if they had got the EU authority’s name right: it’s the European Aviation Safety Authority (EASA). The first sentence of the section also needs some work: the U.K. CAA very much exists as the U.K. competent authority.
Sep 24, 2018 • 5 tweets • 3 min read
A brief comment about the section of this @iealondon @ShankerASingham report dealing with medicines. iea.org.uk/wp-content/upl… In response to a “no deal will be fine” paper by the IEA’s @MissVHewson I pointed out the medium to long term dilemma that the paper failed to face up to.
Sep 24, 2018 • 5 tweets • 1 min read
Footnote 28 is highly recommended. Its content is a reminder that when anyone promises gains from deregulation without explaining exactly what they have in mind, count your spoons.
Sep 23, 2018 • 6 tweets • 2 min read
This is untrue. Though Ruth Deech is a very eminent lawyer, EU law is not one of her areas of expertise. There are and have been many brilliant jurists on the Court, not just from the U.K. and Ireland but also the continent. Since our own Lady Hale is a former “prof”, that criticism is a bit strange. And referring casually to “civil servants” ignores the very different structure of many continental legal professions, especially in administrative law.
Sep 22, 2018 • 4 tweets • 1 min read
Excellent. FWIW I agree with a key part of the analysis here: the PM’s principle policy objectives for the deal are (1) to avoid a hard NI border (because any PM, especially one as security-minded as this one, will put that first) and ... ... (2) to avoid factories - especially car factories - closing due to Brexit (which she knows would kill both Brexit and her government).
Sep 21, 2018 • 11 tweets • 3 min read
This is indeed a bombshell: ECJ will be ruling on whether A50 is revocable. Note: the Inner House has drafted the reference (so it will go straight off) and asked for the expedited procedure (so the ECJ can give judgment fast).
Sep 19, 2018 • 13 tweets • 3 min read
It may have been drafted, but its survival chances in the real world of democratic politics and what voters actually want are those of an ice cube in Death Valley. One rather obvious example is the suggestion of free movement of labour - where the EU is cited as an example to follow. From a pro-Brexit outfit such as @BrexitCentral or a pro-Brexit MP like @annietrev, that is ... chutzpah.
Sep 19, 2018 • 5 tweets • 1 min read
Discussion of Barnier’s proposed approach to backstop (dedramatised checks) seems to have forgotten an important fact: section 55 of the Taxation (Cross Border Trade) Act 2018 means the PM can’t agree to it. legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2018/22/… The enactment of this Act seems generally to have been missed, though the ERG amendment that is now s.55 caused quite a flurry at the time.
Sep 14, 2018 • 4 tweets • 2 min read
It isn’t the choice of non-politicians in itself that’s the problem, but the choice of commentators who represent no one and who add no knowledge to the topics they discuss. Access to a platform like #bbcqt is a scarce resource, and in a democracy ought to be allocated in the basis of principle, not shock value or being known to the right people.
Sep 11, 2018 • 5 tweets • 2 min read
This claim by “economists” for free trade will come as a surprise to eg a U.K. law firm offering legal advice in its office in Vienna. (Not possible, as I understand it, for a non-EEA firm under Austrian law.) Quite extraordinary that Martin Howe QC of @lawyers4britain - who is supposed to have contributed to this “report” - let a statement like that pass.
Sep 11, 2018 • 5 tweets • 3 min read
A harsh but justified comment on the “economists” for free trade “report” endorsed by @Jacob_Rees_Mogg. The legal analysis of WTO rules (by Martin Howe QC of @lawyers4britain) is, regrettably, as poor as the economics. I explained, briefly, why that analysis was wrong here. telegraph.co.uk/politics/2018/…. I have seen no attempt by Martin or anyone else to respond to those points.
Sep 6, 2018 • 5 tweets • 1 min read
Important piece by @martinwolf_ : tldr if the centre left/right don’t come up with solutions to our economic problems, others will. As a competition lawyer, my interest was particularly piqued by a paper by Andy Haldane that Martin cited. The paper is here. bankofengland.co.uk/-/media/boe/fi…