BREXIT: UK Seeks Views On Post-Brexit Sanctions Framework

The UK has begun consulting on new laws that will enable it to continue to impose sanctions against foreign states once it leaves the EU

Many of the UK's current powers to impose sanctions flow from the 1972 European Communities Act, so the government will need new legal powers to replace these once EU law no longer applies, it said in a short consultation, published shortly before the pre-election 'purdah' period began.

In the consultation, which closes on 23 June, the government explained that separate legislation to govern sanctions was needed. The so-called 'great repeal bill', through which it intends to enshrine existing EU regulations in UK law at the point of Brexit, "would not provide the powers necessary to update, amend or lift sanctions in response to fast moving events", the government said in its consultation.