The UK's Relationship with the European Union: 2025 Mackenzie-Stuart Lecture
The CELS Mackenzie-Stuart Lecture Podcast
Faculty of Law, University of Cambridge
5.0 • 4 Ratings
🗓️ 17 March 2025
⏱️ 38 minutes
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Summary
The Centre for European Legal Studies (CELS) hosts an annual public lecture in honour of Lord Mackenzie-Stuart, the first British Judge to be President of the Court of Justice. Among the eminent scholars of European legal studies invited to give the lecture are Professor Joseph Weiler, former Judge David Edwards of the European Court of Justice, and Advocate-General Francis Jacobs of the European Court of Justice. The texts of the Mackenzie-Stuart Lectures are published in the Cambridge Yearbook of European Legal Studies.
The 2025 Mackenzie-Stuart Lecture was delivered by The Rt. Hon. Nick Thomas–Symonds MP, Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office (Minister for the Constitution and European Union Relations) under the title 'The UK's Relationship with the European Union' on 13 March 2025.
Nick Thomas–Symonds was elected as the MP for Torfaen in May 2015, and was appointed Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office (Minister for the Constitution and European Union Relations) at the Cabinet Office on 8 July 2024.
Lecture begins at 02:58
More information about this lecture, including photographs from the event, is available from the Centre for European Legal Studies website at:
https://www.cels.law.cam.ac.uk/mackenzie-stuart-lectures
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. I'm Sophie Turin. I co-direct sales, the Centre of |
| 0:09.9 | European Eagle Studies, with Professor Albertina Alboth-Lorence, and it is my great pleasure to welcome you to this |
| 0:15.7 | evening's Mackenzie Stewart Lecture. It is my pleasure, most of all, to welcome our speaker, |
| 0:20.8 | Minister Nick Thomas Simmons. There will my pleasure, most of all, to welcome our speaker, Minister Nick Thomas |
| 0:22.1 | Simmons. There will be time for questions after the lecture and Professor Emeritus John |
| 0:27.1 | Bell, former director of our centre, we'll chair that session. If you don't manage |
| 0:32.7 | to raise your question, to ask your question, you can try again later. We invite everyone |
| 0:37.0 | to come along to the reception drinks afterwards in the atrium. |
| 0:40.3 | Tonight's lecture is the 26th lecture to be given in honour of Lord Mackenzie Stewart. |
| 0:48.3 | As many of you know, Lord Mackenzie Stewart was an alumnus of Cambridge University. |
| 0:53.3 | He became the first British judge of the European Court of Justice in 1973 and went on to serve |
| 1:00.6 | as president of the court between 1984 to 1988. |
| 1:06.6 | This lecture series was founded in 1997 to honor his contribution and celebrate the many connections |
| 1:13.2 | between this university, the European Union and the Council of Europe. |
| 1:19.1 | We have been blessed with illustrious speakers, including members of the Court of Justice, |
| 1:24.1 | the EU Commission, the European Court of Human Rights and members of the UK Government |
| 1:28.7 | and Parliament. |
| 1:30.8 | Our speaker tonight, Minister Nick Thomas Simmons, grew up in and currently represents |
| 1:35.6 | the Welsh constituency, Torvein. |
| 1:38.6 | He read politics, philosophy and economics at Oxford, but we shall not hold that against him. |
| 1:44.9 | He was elected a fellow of the Royal Historical Society in 2012, and his most recent book |
| 1:51.0 | on Harold Wilson was published in 2022. |
... |
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