Monthly Archives: May 2021

WHILE theToriesin London and Scotland desperately try to deny the results of an election that didnt go their way, the rest of the world is taking notice of an undeniable pro-independencevictory.

With the SNP on 64 seats and the Greens on eight (which perhaps should have been even higher), last week's elections meanHolyroodnow has 72 MSPs which support independence, seven more than is needed for a majority.

That simple fact, so hard to grasp if youre a true-blue Unionist like Michael Gove, has got the world looking at Scotland.

READ MORE:Tory MSP Murdo Fraser panned for 'nonsense' attempts to deny SNP election win

While Catalonia looks on in envy at Scotlands chances of achieving self-determination, the French have also taken notice.

Published today on the front cover of Le Monde, one of Frances newspapers of record, a brilliant cartoon has shown Nicola Sturgeon blowing Scotland free from Brexit Britain.

Titled simply LEcosse a vot (Scotland voted) the cartoon will have been seen by millions of readers across the French-speaking world and beyond, thanks to Le Mondes global reach.

While Tories may dither and bluster, the rest of the world knows what happened on May 6.

Lets hope they keep watching to see what Scotland does next.

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Brilliant French cartoon shows Scotland breaking free of Brexit Britain - The National

Prime Minister Boris Johnson will reclaim powers to trigger an early election. The Government has not had full control over the timing of an election for a decade, since the Cameron-Clegg coalition passed the FTPA in 2011. Under the Act, a general election is scheduled for the first Thursday in May of the fifth year after the previous vote, although there are situations where an election can be called earlier.

The two most important scenarios where a general election can be earlier are a vote of no confidence in the Government, and a vote of two-thirds of the House of Commons.

Before the Act was passed, the power to determine whether a general election should be held early was exercised by the Prime Minister.

The Act transferred this power to Parliament.

However, in today's Queen's Speech, Her Majesty announced the repealing of the legislation.

Speaking on BBC Radio 4's Westminster Hour, Leader of the House of Commons Jacob Rees-Mogg said: "I am glad to say the FTPA will be repealed.

"That's already been drafted and that is something we will be looking at in the next session.

"It will restore the status quo ante.

"It will ensure we have the constitution acting properly and don't have the absurd shenanigans we had in 2019."

The problems of the Act were indeed highlighted two years ago when Parliament became completely deadlocked over Brexit.

Mr Johnson demanded an election, saying it was the only way to break the impasse, but was unable to secure enough MP votes.

Eventually a shift in the Scottish National Party (SNP) allowed him to go to the country, and he scored a huge 80-strong majority in December 2019.

Famous constitutional historian and Brexiteer David Starkey strongly criticised the Act in an exclusive interview with Express.co.uk.

He said back in 2019: "You should have a general election, and the fact we are not having one is by another catastrophic modification of our constitution.

"The FTPA.

"What is striking about this is that there was something absolutely similar in 1641, which is the thing that enables the long Parliament to sit right through the Civil War and turn it into the Rump Parliament.

"Until finally it is driven out by the military dictator Oliver Cromwell at the point of a pike.

JUST IN:Boris urged to 'swallow pride' and strike Swiss-style deal with EU

"That is what happens to Parliaments that sit too long and the FTPA has been an unmitigated catastrophe."

Mr Starkey explained: "It has locked us into this preposterous Parliament which can agree on nothing.

"Remember, the only thing Parliament has been able to agree on is doing nothing.

"It has never been able to agree to do anything and the atmosphere in the country is one of increasing outrage at this absolute impasse, brought about by this preposterous piece of legislation."

The Brexiteer argued that despite how rotten Theresa May's deal was, if the country had had the old structure of Parliament, the former Prime Minister could have made the vote in favour of her agreement with the EU a matter of confidence.

He added: "She couldn't because of the Fixed-term Parliament Act.

"Who was responsible?

"The liberal not not very democratic party."

Constitutional historian Vernon Bogdanor also spoke at length to Express.co.uk about the Act.

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The Professor argued that by refusing a snap election before October 31, 2019, the British people were essentially denied the opportunity of deciding whether or not they wanted Britain to leave the EU on Halloween.

He noted: "The Conservatives were right in their 2017 manifesto to propose repeal of the Act.

"For, in the world of multi-party politics and possible hung parliaments which we may be entering, dissolution is a vital safeguard against inter-party manoeuvrings and shenanigans.

Far from being a threat to democracy, dissolution is an essential weapon for the Government if the rights of voters are to be protected."

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Boris Johnson to repeal David Cameron's 'catastrophic' law that almost halted Brexit - Express

10 May 2021

Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner LLP

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As we discussed in our It's Good To Talk article as part of ourEmerging Themes in Financial Regulation 2021 publication, manybanks and financial institutions operating in the UK havehistorically tended to favour exclusive English Court jurisdictionclauses as their preferred dispute resolution method, particularlywhen facing EU-based counterparties, given the ease of enforcementthrough EU Member States. Arbitration clauses have tended to onlybe used to mitigate enforcement risk when emerging markets areinvolved.

With arbitration being one of the fewareas unaffected by Brexit (the ease of enforcing arbitrationagreements and awards internationally, including across the EU, hasnot changed), Brexit provides a fresh incentive for the financesector to take a second look at arbitration. Arbitration offers itsusers many benefits, but there are key draws that should be ofparticular interest to banks and financial institutions, some ofwhich we cover here.

Of equal value to confidentiality, the ability for a party tochoose an arbitrator to hear its dispute is another strongattraction of arbitration. In arbitration, a party has theopportunity to consider the nature of the dispute that has arisenand the experience and sector knowledge that it would be beneficialfor an arbitrator to have in determining the dispute, so that theycan choose the best candidate with the right expertise. A partycould select an arbitrator from the finance sector with specifictechnical knowledge and experience, or an arbitrator from a legalbackground who is experienced in resolving banking and financedisputes. This feature is highly valued by most parties.

If selecting an arbitrator is a daunting prospect, help is athand. Arbitral institutions have lots of experience in appointingarbitrators suitable for the relevant dispute. Of particularinterest in this regard is P.R.I.M.E. Finance, the Panel ofRecognised International Market Experts in Finance. Launched in2012, P.R.I.M.E Finance offers a specialised forum for resolvingbanking and finance disputes and they have their own arbitrationrules, based on the UNCITRAL arbitration rules. The rules arecurrently under review, with a draft published for publiccomment. The public consultation closed on 22 March 2021 andthe latest version of the rules is expected to be publishedshortly. One of P.R.I.M.E. Finance's key selling points is itspool of over 200 legal and financial experts from which to choosearbitrators. You are not tied to choosing from that pool, but ifyou're not sure who to select as arbitrator, it is a good placeto start. These arbitrators are not exclusive to P.R.I.M.E. and youcould nominate them if you were using different arbitration rules.At least on the UK side, the pool mainly seems to be drawn from thelegal sector, although P.R.I.M.E. Finance's description of thepanel says that the pool also includes central bankers, regulatorsand derivatives market participants. The P.R.I.M.E. Finance Rulesare not used as often as other institutional arbitration rules, butare worth bearing in mind.

Banks and financial institutions are often concerned about theprospect of parallel proceedings in different jurisdictions,particularly in more complex transactions, such as in a typicalproject finance deal, where there are multiple contracts betweenmultiple parties, which relate to the same transaction or series oftransactions.

While it is generally easier to join third parties toproceedings in court litigation, it is less of a concern inarbitration, as many arbitration rules now include enhanced joinderand consolidation provisions. Joinder provisions typically allow athird party to be brought into a dispute at the request of a party,provided that the third party and the applicant party consent inwriting. Arbitral tribunals also often have the power, in certaincircumstances, to consolidate two or more sets of arbitrationproceedings to form a single set of proceedings, so that a singletribunal will determine all the issues, avoiding the risk ofinconsistent outcomes in different jurisdictions. This can usuallybe done when there is a series of related transactions and thedocuments all contain an arbitration agreement in substantially thesame form. The LCIA Rules 2020, in particular, go quite farregarding the consolidation of multiple proceedings, as they allowa tribunal to consolidate an arbitration with one or more otherarbitrations even if the arbitration agreement is between differentparties, but arises out of the same transaction or series ofrelated transactions.

If the possibility of parallel proceedings is a particularconcern, arbitration could be reserved for transactions where thereare only two parties, in order to avoid any risk.

As we considered in our It's Good To Talk article, several of themajor arbitral institutions have introduced express provisionsallowing for summary determination of claims and defences, allowingarbitrators to rule that any claim or defence is manifestly withoutmerit and to issue an award to that effect more quickly thanbefore. This is a significant change and should make arbitrationmore attractive to banks and financial institutions, who valuequick mechanisms for certain types of dispute, such as debtactions. This development puts arbitration on a more level playingfield with court proceedings, where summary judgments arecommonplace.

With Brexit providing a fresh impetus to reconsider your disputeresolution methods of choice, the advantages that arbitration canoffer banks and financial institutions should be carefullyconsidered to see if it is time for a change. We have already seensignificant growth in the use of arbitration by this sector, andrecent developments indicate that this is a trend that is set tocontinue.

Originally published 21 April 2021.

The content of this article is intended to provide a generalguide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be soughtabout your specific circumstances.

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Time To Reconsider? Post-Brexit, Now Is A Good Opportunity For The Finance Sector To Take A Second Look At The Key Benefits Arbitration Offers To...

It's a farewell party at the office.

England is going freelance. Scotland and Wales are pegged to join them, but it's looking dicey.

Loyalism feels alienated and abandoned, the EU is a bit smug about the whole thing, and Fine Gael, money in breast pocket, is more than happy to just act the drunken lush for a bit.

Comedian Tadhg Hickey has done it again.

Brexit, but it's an office party in Cork

Shot/directed by @dominic_machale #indyref2 #BrexitShambles #karaoke pic.twitter.com/VH5mgbx0vA

The CCCahoots man, alongside teammate Dominic MacHale, has been taking everyday mundanities and using them to contextualise world events to devastating effect in recent times - from the political drama of Brexit to Covid vaccine equality and aggression in the Middle East.

While a decidedly more light-hearted affair than other recent sketches, it still speaks to the ongoing tensions and relationships at the heart of Brexit and its complications.

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Brexit... but it's the karaoke bit of an office party in Cork - Irish Examiner