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George Peretz KC @georgeperetzkc.bsky.social · 2h

Theologians: discuss.

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 1d

Trump: "I want to be good because you want to prove to God so you go to that next step, right? So that's very important to me."

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Reposted by George Peretz KC

Paolo Sandro @paolosandro.bsky.social · 1d

Lord Wolfson's legal advice to Kemi Badenoch on ECHR withdrawal has now been published. In this thread I'll highlight a few passages that stood out for me - not meant to be a full analysis (in [] are the paragraph numbers). /1

rozenberg.substack.com/p/how-uk-cou...

How UK could leave ECHR

Withdrawal would allow EU to end criminal law enforcement co-operation

rozenberg.substack.com

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George Peretz KC @georgeperetzkc.bsky.social · 2d

I recently referred in a written argument to a passage in a chapter I wrote in a book edited by the judge hearing the matter. (It was on a minor and non-controversial point!)

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George Peretz KC @georgeperetzkc.bsky.social · 2d

Quite

Aoife O'Donoghue @aoifemod.bsky.social · 2d

Ehm...

1) Because it is an integral part of the UK - not an overseas territority etcs., - & UK wide law applies to it

2) Direct Rule is always a possibility

3) Nice to the Conversative & Unionist Party looking for yet another sea border, as that is so popular.

See caj.org.uk/wp-content/u...

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George Peretz KC @georgeperetzkc.bsky.social · 2d

OK. Finding the mistakes and distortions can now begin.

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George Peretz KC @georgeperetzkc.bsky.social · 2d

NB too that Philp made it quite clear that there won’t be any “British Bill of Rights”: this is reactionary authoritarianism pure and simple.

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George Peretz KC @georgeperetzkc.bsky.social · 2d

3. “The ECHR commitment is only applicable to devolved bodies”. Wrong. The commitment is to incorporate into “NI law”, including NI law made and administered by UK institutions. (And given that UK institutions were responsible for the concerns, any other result would be bizarre.)

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George Peretz KC @georgeperetzkc.bsky.social · 2d

2. “The ECHR commitment is only to have rights ‘like’ the ECHR”. Wrong: there is no basis for saying that the agreement to incorporate “the ECHR” in NI law can be read as meaning “something the UK thinks is a bit like the ECHR”.

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George Peretz KC @georgeperetzkc.bsky.social · 2d

Chris Philp on R4 yesterday making 3 false statements about the ECHR and the GFA.
1. “The ECHR is mentioned only in the Multi-Party Agreement not the UK/Ireland Agreement.”. Wrong: the latter agreement requires the UK to support the former: they can’t be pulled apart like that.

George Peretz KC @georgeperetzkc.bsky.social · 2d

Summary here by @joshuarozenberg.bsky.social of the so far unpublished but apparently “circulating” “legal advice” by Lord Wolfson to the Tory party. open.substack.com/pub/rozenber...

How UK could leave ECHR

Withdrawal would allow EU to end criminal law enforcement co-operation

open.substack.com

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George Peretz KC @georgeperetzkc.bsky.social · 2d

I suspect that tedious but necessary work once the Wolfson “legal advice” is released will be to go through it and find other obvious errors and distortions.

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George Peretz KC @georgeperetzkc.bsky.social · 2d

Joshua points out what looks like an obvious mistake (about Ziegler). The analysis of the GFA also seems to repeat the simply wrong (not “arguably wrong”: “wrong”) Policy Exchange paper de-bunked here. caj.org.uk/publications...

The Belfast/Good Friday Agreement 1998 & European Convention on Human Rights: Explainer - Committee on the Administration of Justice

This explainer sets out why the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) is inseparable from the 1998 Belfast/Good Friday Agreement (B/GFA). Contrary to recent claims, the UK cannot withdraw from th...

caj.org.uk

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George Peretz KC @georgeperetzkc.bsky.social · 2d

Summary here by @joshuarozenberg.bsky.social of the so far unpublished but apparently “circulating” “legal advice” by Lord Wolfson to the Tory party. open.substack.com/pub/rozenber...

How UK could leave ECHR

Withdrawal would allow EU to end criminal law enforcement co-operation

open.substack.com

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George Peretz KC @georgeperetzkc.bsky.social · 2d

Neither mother nor grandmother …

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George Peretz KC @georgeperetzkc.bsky.social · 2d

(As it happens I’m not Jewish: but Americans - unlike most non-Jewish Brits - recognise that my surname is Jewish.)

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George Peretz KC @georgeperetzkc.bsky.social · 2d

Knowing who your real enemies are is generally wise.

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George Peretz KC @georgeperetzkc.bsky.social · 2d

My own reaction to this is that the only time I’ve been subject to an anti-Semitic pile-on was on the Musk site. When I rejected the idea of “two-tier justice”: I was entertained by US adherents of the idea that Jews were behind the Great Replacement, with pictures in case I didn’t read English.

Sunder Katwala (sundersays) @sundersays.bsky.social · 4d

This Israeli government decision to host Tommy Robinson will widen the growing gulf between the Netanyahu government and the British public, including the broad majority of Jews in Britain (3/4 of whom dsapproved of Netanyahu, before this new link to this anti-Muslim racist UK far right convict).

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George Peretz KC @georgeperetzkc.bsky.social · 5d

“Entirely mediated by English interests” is generous. As Edward Carson said in 1921:

“What a fool I was. I was only a puppet, and so was Ulster, and so was Ireland, in the political game that was to get the Conservative Party into power.”

Some things never change.

Colin Murray @colinmurray.bsky.social · 5d

Look, nothing will get picked up of this car crash beyond Badenoch's howler over NI supposedly supporting Brexit, but read on, and her take on NI is entirely mediated by English interests. On the Legacy Act the only constituency that matters to her is army veterans:

www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

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Reposted by George Peretz KC

Jonathan Jones @sirjjkc.bsky.social · 6d

The case that was “too big for the government to lose”

Because the government famously never loses big cases, which is why government ministers never get cross with judges who rule against them

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George Peretz KC @georgeperetzkc.bsky.social · 6d

Absolutely.

dag @davidallengreen.bsky.social · 7d

This is the judgment on the PPE/Medpro claim.

A cracking £122m win for the Government Legal Service

And is wonderful to see the government bringing a claim in contract against a shoddy supplier.

This does not happen often, and it should happen far more.

www.judiciary.uk/wp-content/u...

www.judiciary.uk

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Reposted by George Peretz KC

Joshua Rozenberg @joshuarozenberg.bsky.social · 7d

The government is currently reviewing the opt-out collective actions regime in competition law, which enables consumers to claim compensation from corporations accused of market abuse. How should we calibrate the balance between corporations and consumers?

rozenberg.substack.com/p/consumer-p...

Consumer protection?

Or limiting the burden on business? Which takes priority?

rozenberg.substack.com

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George Peretz KC @georgeperetzkc.bsky.social · 7d

A couple of efforts so far. More to come. And contributions welcome! labourlist.org/2025/09/what...; labourlist.org/2025/09/quit...

What has the European Convention on Human Rights ever done for us? - LabourList

Every week seems to bring a new politician saying that they think the UK should leave the European…

labourlist.org

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George Peretz KC @georgeperetzkc.bsky.social · 7d

Stories showing how the rule of law, and Labour’s Human Rights Act and the ECHR - work for ordinary citizens against secrecy, authoritarianism, and lack of accountability: and that that is precisely why the reactionary right and their oligarch friends loathe them.

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George Peretz KC @georgeperetzkc.bsky.social · 7d

Both myth-busting and - more importantly, because myth-busting is defensive and what is needed is attack - telling true stories.

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George Peretz KC @georgeperetzkc.bsky.social · 7d

Absolutely agree with @paulmason.bsky.social on this. @soclablaw.bsky.social, which I chair, is up for doing what we can to help.
open.substack.com/pub/htsf/p/s....

But Labour is not yet set up to carry out that work systematically - and one consequence of Starmer's decision to make this a "them or us"
battle is that the party must urgently start providing its members with guidance, materials and training - because we are up against a foreign funded and, whether Farage knows this or not, foreign manipulated far right ideology, which has a global disinformation network behind it.

In the aftermath, we need every granular action of the Labour Party, and the activism and online comms of our hundreds and thousands of
members, to reflect these principles. It can be about the t-shirt you wear down the pub, the words you use on the doorstep, the cultural content you create.
One of the things that needs to change urgently is the way Labour and trade union supporters communicate online: we seem terrified of making original and spiky content, leaving the field open to the right, whose activists produce it at industrial scale, so that the Russian and MAGA bot farms can boost it into the faces of the
electorate.

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George Peretz KC @georgeperetzkc.bsky.social · 9d

And we are off!

Society of Labour Lawyers @soclablaw.bsky.social · 19d

Our Monday events! Hope you can join us!

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