Overview

• The guidance overturns Suella Braverman’s 2022 memo by telling government lawyers to assume every ministerial decision could face a legal challenge.
• A new reporting mechanism instructs civil servants to notify the Attorney General if ministers propose actions lacking a tenable legal basis.
• Updated advice adds 23 references to international law and prohibits ministers from using Parliament to override treaty obligations.
• Senior figures from both Conservative and Labour parties have denounced the changes as a power grab that risks paralysing policy-making.
• Downing Street maintains that ministers retain ultimate policy authority despite the stricter legal framework for government lawyers.