Policy paper

Supreme Court Case No. 2021/0079 and 2021/0080 written submissions

Written Cases for the UK Supreme Court referral on legislative competence of the UNCRC bill and ECLSG Bill

• From: Office of the Secretary of State for Scotland and Office of the Advocate General for Scotland
• Published: 28 June 2021
• Last updated: 1 July 2021 — See all updates

This was published under the 2019 to 2022 Johnson Conservative government

Applies to Scotland

Documents

UNCRC - ECLSG References - Written Case for the Attorney General and Advocate General for Scotland

PDF, 627 KB, 44 pages

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UNCRC - ECLSG References - Written Case for the Lord Advocate

PDF, 611 KB, 61 pages

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UNCRC - ECLSG References - Written Case for the Counsel General for Wales

PDF, 344 KB, 18 pages

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Details

These cases were filed for two references which have been made by Her Majesty’s Attorney General and Her Majesty’s Advocate General for Scotland under s.33(1) of the Scotland Act 1998 (“SA”; “the references”). Section 33(1) permits those officers (“the UK Law Officers”) to refer to the Supreme Court the question of whether a Bill passed by the Scottish Parliament, or any provision of such a Bill, would be within its legislative competence.

The references have been made in respect of specific provisions of the two Bills referred: ss.6, 19(2)(a)(ii), 20(10)(a)(ii) and 21(5)(b)(ii) of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (Incorporation) (Scotland) Bill (“the UNCRC Bill”) and ss.4(1A) and 5(1) of the European Charter of Local Self-Government (Incorporation) (Scotland) Bill (“the ECLSG Bill”). The UNCRC Bill was passed on 16 March 2021 and the ECLSG Bill was passed on 23 March 2021.

Published 28 June 2021
Last updated 1 July 2021 + show all updates

1. 1 July 2021

   Replaced the Written Case for the Advocate General with a version that does not include their signature at the request of the Advocate's General's Counsel.

2. 29 June 2021

   Replaced the Written Case for the Lord Advocate with a version that does not include their signature at the request of the Lord Advocate's Counsel.

3. 28 June 2021

   Added Written Cases for the Lord Advocate and for the Counsel General of Wales

4. 28 June 2021

   First published.