gaps which are likely to appear in domestic capacity post-Brexit.

Trade Barriers

Contrary to the view that Brexit will empower the Government by granting freedom to achieve their desired ambitions, divergent environmental standards risk constituting trade barriers between nations. In order to maintain such a strong and imperative trade relationship with the EU, the UK may be forced to align any new regulatory standards with EU provisions. As Macrory argues, Brexit is unlikely to give the UK free rein over environmental law – the UK’s green laws have been developed over time through the ratification of over forty international treaties to which the UK and the EU are both signatories. These agreements comprise of a multitude of vague competences on part of both the UK and the EU. It is therefore likely that, despite leaving the EU, the UK will in fact still be bound by a number of non-EU obligations entangled within these treaties. The argument, therefore, that the UK will be free to set its own bespoke environmental regulations to fulfil its environmental ambitions, seems idealistic.

The Practical Reality – a troubled Britain post-Brexit

As Scotford suggests, post-Brexit challenges reflect some fundamental normative and institutional issues. What might prevent the Government from achieving their ambition is the sheer legal task of converting and disaggregating the vast, convoluted EU environmental acquis into ‘sovereign’ law. The concern is that the challenges which are heavily entangled within this complex task may expose a governance gap; as Reid argues, the simple ‘copy and paste’ approach favoured by the Government is not viable – for example, where environmental law is guided by and relies upon institutional structures, enforcement mechanisms and the EU’s substantive environmental law. The enormous workload caused by the loss of the EU framework of planning, research, reporting and accountability puts at jeopardy the coherence of UK environmental law. To combat this, the UK would in reality need to develop a body of domestic environmental law that accommodates various levels of governance locally, transnationally and internationally.

The practical reality is that there may in fact be regression in terms of environmental protection. The extensive effect of EU membership is perhaps most clearly exhibited through the estimation that 80% of all UK environmental law originates from the EU. In a broad respect, the collaborative aspect of EU membership has benefitted Member States by advancing air and water cleanliness, species protection and conservation. It is no surprise, therefore