Ellie Reeves, in her first international law speech as Attorney General for England and Wales, told the London Conference on International Law 2026 that international rules affect prosperity, travel, public safety and protection from state overreach. The Attorney General's Office published the text on 20 October 2026; the speech was given on 1 October 2026, the day Reeves said she was sworn in at the Royal Courts of Justice.

Reeves cited a Bank of England announcement, made a few weeks before the speech, of inflation rising to 3.1%. She linked pressure on household budgets to the war in Ukraine and to the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, which she said has blocked commercial shipping and raised oil prices, bills and mortgage rates. She said more than 400 commercial vessels pass through the Dover Strait daily under transit passage rights guaranteed by UNCLOS.

She also pointed to the Chicago Convention and bilateral agreements underpinning aviation and travel, and to extradition and mutual legal assistance treaties as foundations for cross-border criminal justice. Reeves said the government remains committed to the European Convention on Human Rights, the International Court of Justice and the UN.