# UK Law Mcp

> UK legislation via MCP — full-text search across statutes and provisions

- **Type:** MCP server
- **Install:** `agentstack add mcp-ansvar-systems-uk-law-mcp`
- **Verified:** Yes — security-reviewed for prompt injection and unsafe behavior
- **Seller:** [Ansvar-Systems](https://agentstack.voostack.com/s/ansvar-systems)
- **Installs:** 0
- **Category:** [Search](https://agentstack.voostack.com/c/search)
- **Latest version:** 1.0.2
- **License:** Apache-2.0
- **Upstream author:** [Ansvar-Systems](https://github.com/Ansvar-Systems)
- **Source:** https://github.com/Ansvar-Systems/UK-law-mcp
- **Website:** https://uk-law-mcp.vercel.app

## Install

```sh
agentstack add mcp-ansvar-systems-uk-law-mcp
```

Requires the [AgentStack CLI](https://agentstack.voostack.com/docs/cli). Works with Claude Code, Cursor, and any MCP-compatible agent.

## About

# UK Law MCP Server

> ### ▶ Try this MCP instantly via Ansvar Gateway
> **50 free queries/day · no card required · OAuth signup at [ansvar.eu/gateway](https://ansvar.eu/gateway)**
>
> One endpoint, one OAuth signup, access from any MCP-compatible client.

### Connect

**Claude Code** (one line):

```bash
claude mcp add ansvar --transport http https://gateway.ansvar.eu/mcp
```

**Claude Desktop / Cursor** — add to `claude_desktop_config.json` (or `mcp.json`):

```json
{
  "mcpServers": {
    "ansvar": {
      "type": "url",
      "url": "https://gateway.ansvar.eu/mcp"
    }
  }
}
```

**Claude.ai** — Settings → Connectors → Add custom connector → paste `https://gateway.ansvar.eu/mcp`

First request opens an OAuth flow at [ansvar.eu/gateway](https://ansvar.eu/gateway). After signup, your client is bound to your account; tier (free / premium / team / company) determines fan-out, quota, and which downstream MCPs are reachable.

---

## Self-host this MCP

You can also clone this repo and build the corpus yourself. The schema,
fetcher, and tool implementations all live here. What is not in the repo is
the pre-built database — TDM and standards-licensing constraints on the
upstream sources mean we host the corpus on Ansvar infrastructure rather
than redistribute it as a public artifact.

Build your own: run this repo's ingestion script (entry-point varies per
repo — typically `scripts/ingest.sh`, `npm run ingest`, or `make ingest`;
check the repo root).

**The legislation.gov.uk alternative for the AI age.**

[](https://registry.modelcontextprotocol.io)
[](https://opensource.org/licenses/Apache-2.0)
[](https://github.com/Ansvar-Systems/UK-law-mcp)
[](https://github.com/Ansvar-Systems/UK-law-mcp/actions/workflows/ci.yml)
[](https://github.com/Ansvar-Systems/UK-law-mcp/actions/workflows/check-updates.yml)
[](docs/EU_INTEGRATION_GUIDE.md)
[](docs/EU_INTEGRATION_GUIDE.md)

Query **3,241 UK statutes** -- from the UK GDPR and Computer Misuse Act to the Employment Rights Act, Companies Act, and more -- directly from Claude, Cursor, or any MCP-compatible client.

If you're building legal tech, compliance tools, or doing UK legal research, this is your verified reference database.

Built by [Ansvar Systems](https://ansvar.eu) -- Stockholm, Sweden

---

## Why This Exists

UK legal research is scattered across legislation.gov.uk, BAILII, and EUR-Lex retained EU law indexes. Whether you're:
- A **lawyer** validating citations in a brief or contract
- A **compliance officer** checking if a statute is still in force or has been amended post-Brexit
- A **legal tech developer** building tools on UK law
- A **researcher** tracing legislative history from Bill to Act

...you shouldn't need dozens of browser tabs and manual PDF cross-referencing. Ask Claude. Get the exact provision. With context.

This MCP server makes UK law **searchable, cross-referenceable, and AI-readable**.

---

## Example Queries

Once connected, just ask naturally:

- *"What does the UK GDPR say about data subject rights?"*
- *"Is the Computer Misuse Act still in force?"*
- *"Find provisions about employment rights under the Employment Rights Act 1996"*
- *"What EU adequacy status does the UK hold post-Brexit?"*
- *"Which UK laws implement the equivalent of the NIS2 Directive?"*
- *"Get the text of Section 7 of the Data Protection Act 2018"*
- *"Compare data breach notification requirements across UK GDPR and DPA 2018"*
- *"Validate the citation 'Computer Misuse Act 1990, s.1'"*

---

## What's Included

| Category | Count | Details |
|----------|-------|---------|
| **Statutes** | 3,241 statutes | Acts of Parliament from legislation.gov.uk |
| **Provisions** | 512,651 sections | Full-text searchable with FTS5 |
| **Case Law** | 65,026 judgments | Premium tier -- court decisions and tribunal rulings |
| **Preparatory Works** | 3,838 documents | Explanatory Notes and Hansard references |
| **Database Size** | ~3,606 MB | Comprehensive SQLite, includes full provision text |
| **Daily Updates** | Automated | Freshness checks against legislation.gov.uk |

**Verified data only** -- every citation is validated against official sources (legislation.gov.uk). Zero LLM-generated content.

---

## See It In Action

### Why This Works

**Verbatim Source Text (No LLM Processing):**
- All statute text is ingested from legislation.gov.uk official sources
- Provisions are returned **unchanged** from SQLite FTS5 database rows
- Zero LLM summarization or paraphrasing -- the database contains statute text, not AI interpretations

**Smart Context Management:**
- Search returns ranked provisions with BM25 scoring (safe for context)
- Provision retrieval gives exact text by Act name and section number
- Cross-references help navigate without loading everything at once

**Technical Architecture:**
```
legislation.gov.uk API --> Parse --> SQLite --> FTS5 snippet() --> MCP response
                             ^                        ^
                      Provision parser         Verbatim database query
```

### Traditional Research vs. This MCP

| Traditional Approach | This MCP Server |
|---------------------|-----------------|
| Search legislation.gov.uk by Act name | Search by plain English: *"data subject access request"* |
| Navigate multi-part statutes manually | Get the exact provision with context |
| Manual cross-referencing between Acts | `build_legal_stance` aggregates across sources |
| "Is this statute still in force?" -- check manually | `check_currency` tool -- answer in seconds |
| Find EU alignment -- dig through retained EU law index | `get_eu_basis` -- linked EU instruments instantly |
| Check 5+ sites for amendments | Daily automated freshness checks |
| No API, no integration | MCP protocol -- AI-native |

**Traditional:** Search legislation.gov.uk --> Download PDF --> Ctrl+F --> Cross-reference with Explanatory Notes --> Check for amendments --> Repeat

**This MCP:** *"What does the UK GDPR say about data subject rights and how does it differ from the EU GDPR?"* --> Done.

---

## Available Tools (13)

### Core Legal Research Tools (8)

| Tool | Description |
|------|-------------|
| `search_legislation` | FTS5 search on 512,651 provisions with BM25 ranking |
| `get_provision` | Retrieve specific provision by Act name and section number |
| `validate_citation` | Validate citation against database (zero-hallucination check) |
| `build_legal_stance` | Aggregate citations from statutes, case law, and preparatory works |
| `format_citation` | Format citations per UK conventions (full/short/pinpoint) |
| `check_currency` | Check if statute is in force, amended, or repealed |
| `list_sources` | List all available statutes with metadata and data provenance |
| `about` | Server info, capabilities, dataset statistics, and coverage summary |

### EU/International Law Integration Tools (5)

| Tool | Description |
|------|-------------|
| `get_eu_basis` | Get EU instruments that UK statutes derive from or align with |
| `get_uk_implementations` | Find UK laws implementing or derived from a specific EU act |
| `search_eu_implementations` | Search EU documents with UK implementation and retention counts |
| `get_provision_eu_basis` | Get EU law references for a specific UK provision |
| `validate_eu_compliance` | Check UK implementation or adequacy status against EU directives |

---

## EU Law Integration

The UK left the EU on 31 January 2020. The relationship between UK law and EU law is now one of **adequacy and alignment**, not membership.

| Topic | Status |
|-------|--------|
| **EU Adequacy Decision** | UK holds GDPR Article 45 adequacy decisions for England, Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland, and Gibraltar (granted June 2021) |
| **Retained EU Law** | Significant body of EU-derived law was retained at exit under the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018, now progressively reviewed |
| **UK GDPR** | Near-identical to EU GDPR with UK-specific modifications -- the EU tools show alignment between UK GDPR and EU GDPR |
| **NIS Regulations** | UK implemented NIS before Brexit; UK NIS 2 equivalent under development |

The EU bridge tools in this MCP let you trace which UK statutes derive from EU directives, which provisions align with EU regulatory requirements, and where post-Brexit divergence has occurred.

> **Note:** EU cross-references reflect derivation and alignment relationships. The UK is no longer subject to EU law, but understanding the EU origin of UK statutes is essential for cross-border compliance work.

---

## Data Sources & Freshness

All content is sourced from authoritative UK legal databases:

- **[legislation.gov.uk](https://www.legislation.gov.uk/)** -- The official UK legislation database (National Archives)
- **[BAILII](https://www.bailii.org/)** -- British and Irish Legal Information Institute (case law, premium tier)

### Data Provenance

| Field | Value |
|-------|-------|
| **Authority** | The National Archives / King's Printer |
| **Retrieval method** | legislation.gov.uk API |
| **Language** | English |
| **License** | Open Parliament Licence / Open Government Licence |
| **Coverage** | 3,241 Acts from legislation.gov.uk |

### Automated Freshness Checks (Daily)

A [daily GitHub Actions workflow](.github/workflows/check-updates.yml) monitors legislation.gov.uk for changes:

| Check | Method |
|-------|--------|
| **Statute amendments** | Drift detection against known provision anchors |
| **New statutes** | Comparison against legislation.gov.uk index |
| **Repealed statutes** | Status change detection |

**Verified data only** -- every citation is validated against official sources. Zero LLM-generated content.

---

## Security

This project uses multiple layers of automated security scanning:

| Scanner | What It Does | Schedule |
|---------|-------------|----------|
| **CodeQL** | Static analysis for security vulnerabilities | Weekly + PRs |
| **Semgrep** | SAST scanning (OWASP top 10, secrets, TypeScript) | Every push |
| **Gitleaks** | Secret detection across git history | Every push |
| **Trivy** | CVE scanning on filesystem and npm dependencies | Daily |
| **Docker Security** | Container image scanning + SBOM generation | Daily |
| **Socket.dev** | Supply chain attack detection | PRs |
| **OSSF Scorecard** | OpenSSF best practices scoring | Weekly |
| **Dependabot** | Automated dependency updates | Weekly |

See [SECURITY.md](SECURITY.md) for the full policy and vulnerability reporting.

---

## Important Disclaimers

### Legal Advice

> **THIS TOOL IS NOT LEGAL ADVICE**
>
> Statute text is sourced from legislation.gov.uk (The National Archives). However:
> - This is a **research tool**, not a substitute for professional legal counsel
> - **Court case coverage is in the premium tier** -- do not rely solely on this for case law research without the premium database
> - **Verify critical citations** against primary sources for court filings
> - **EU cross-references** reflect derivation and alignment, not current EU membership
> - **Northern Ireland** has specific post-Brexit legal arrangements (Windsor Framework) that may not be fully reflected

**Before using professionally, read:** [DISCLAIMER.md](DISCLAIMER.md) | [PRIVACY.md](PRIVACY.md)

### Client Confidentiality

Queries go through the Claude API. For privileged or confidential matters, use on-premise deployment. See [PRIVACY.md](PRIVACY.md) for Law Society compliance guidance.

> For guidance from your bar association: **The Law Society** (England & Wales) | **Law Society of Scotland** | **Law Society of Northern Ireland**

---

## Documentation

- **[EU Integration Guide](docs/EU_INTEGRATION_GUIDE.md)** -- Detailed EU cross-reference documentation
- **[EU Usage Examples](docs/EU_USAGE_EXAMPLES.md)** -- Practical EU lookup examples
- **[Security Policy](SECURITY.md)** -- Vulnerability reporting and scanning details
- **[Disclaimer](DISCLAIMER.md)** -- Legal disclaimers and professional use notices
- **[Privacy](PRIVACY.md)** -- Client confidentiality and data handling

---

## Development

### Setup

```bash
git clone https://github.com/Ansvar-Systems/UK-law-mcp
cd UK-law-mcp
npm install
npm run build
npm test
```

### Running Locally

```bash
npm run dev                                       # Start MCP server
npx @anthropic/mcp-inspector node dist/index.js   # Test with MCP Inspector
```

### Data Management

```bash
npm run ingest                    # Ingest statutes from legislation.gov.uk
npm run build:db                  # Rebuild SQLite database
npm run drift:detect              # Run drift detection against anchors
npm run check-updates             # Check for amendments and new Acts
```

### Performance

- **Search Speed:** 
  Built with care in Stockholm, Sweden

## Source & license

This open-source MCP server is cataloged on AgentStack and links to its original source — we do not rehost the code.

- **Author:** [Ansvar-Systems](https://github.com/Ansvar-Systems)
- **Source:** [Ansvar-Systems/UK-law-mcp](https://github.com/Ansvar-Systems/UK-law-mcp)
- **License:** Apache-2.0
- **Homepage:** https://uk-law-mcp.vercel.app

Install and usage instructions live in the source repository linked above.

## Pricing

- **Free** — Free

## Versions

- **1.0.2** — security scan: passed — Imported from the upstream source.

## Links

- Listing page: https://agentstack.voostack.com/l/mcp-ansvar-systems-uk-law-mcp
- Seller: https://agentstack.voostack.com/s/ansvar-systems
- Browse the marketplace: https://agentstack.voostack.com/browse

---
Listed on AgentStack — the marketplace for AI agent skills and MCP servers. Every listing is security-reviewed. Creators keep 70%.