Richard Ekins comments on recent UK Government imposed sanctions

Professor Richard Ekins has recently published notable articles and analyses on the issue of the UK government imposing sanctions on named individuals in the context of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

He published the following article, with Sir Stephen Laws KCB, QC (Hon) (former First Parliamentary Counsel), in which he explored why the government had been slow to impose sanctions on individual Russian oligarchs and officials. The article’s analysis was noted on Conservative Home, which also republished the article in full.

Providing further insight, Professor Ekins published an article on the Spectator’s Coffee House blog, which analysed the government’s efforts to amend the Economic Crime (Transparency and Enforcement) Bill in order to streamline the process of imposing sanctions and argued for more narrowly focused legislation.

This Spectator article was raised in the House of Commons on the day of publication, by Sir Robert Neill MP, Chair of the Justice Committee, in the Second Reading of the Economic Crime (Transparency and Enforcement) Bill, and again in the House of Lords on Wednesday, by Lord Faulks QC.

Professor Ekins also published a related analysis of two backbench amendments that had been tabled in relation to the Economic Crime (Transparency and Enforcement) Bill, which was subsequently quoted in a column in the Financial Times.