UK Law MCP Server

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

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 -- 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.

---

Quick Start

Use Remotely (No Install Needed)

Connect directly to the hosted version -- zero dependencies, nothing to install.

Endpoint: https://uk-law-mcp.vercel.app/mcp

Client	How to Connect
Claude.ai	Settings > Connectors > Add Integration > paste URL
Claude Code	claude mcp add uk-law --transport http https://uk-law-mcp.vercel.app/mcp
Claude Desktop	Add to config (see below)
GitHub Copilot	Add to VS Code settings (see below)

Claude Desktop -- add to claude_desktop_config.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "uk-law": {
      "type": "url",
      "url": "https://uk-law-mcp.vercel.app/mcp"
    }
  }
}

GitHub Copilot -- add to VS Code settings.json:

{
  "github.copilot.chat.mcp.servers": {
    "uk-law": {
      "type": "http",
      "url": "https://uk-law-mcp.vercel.app/mcp"
    }
  }
}

Use Locally (npm)

npx @ansvar/uk-law-mcp

Claude Desktop -- add to claude_desktop_config.json:

macOS: ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json Windows: %APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "uk-law": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "@ansvar/uk-law-mcp"]
    }
  }
}

Cursor / VS Code:

{
  "mcp.servers": {
    "uk-law": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "@ansvar/uk-law-mcp"]
    }
  }
}

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 -- The official UK legislation database (National Archives)
• BAILII -- 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 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 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 | PRIVACY.md

Client Confidentiality

Queries go through the Claude API. For privileged or confidential matters, use on-premise deployment. See 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 -- Detailed EU cross-reference documentation
• EU Usage Examples -- Practical EU lookup examples
• Security Policy -- Vulnerability reporting and scanning details
• Disclaimer -- Legal disclaimers and professional use notices
• Privacy -- Client confidentiality and data handling

---

Development

Setup

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

Running Locally

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

Data Management

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: <100ms for most FTS5 queries
• Database Size: ~3,606 MB (comprehensive -- full UK statute corpus)
• Reliability: 100% ingestion success rate across 3,241 statutes

---

Related Projects: Complete Compliance Suite

This server is part of Ansvar's Compliance Suite -- MCP servers that work together for end-to-end compliance coverage:

@ansvar/eu-regulations-mcp

Query 49 EU regulations directly from Claude -- GDPR, AI Act, DORA, NIS2, MiFID II, eIDAS, and more. Full regulatory text with article-level search. npx @ansvar/eu-regulations-mcp

@ansvar/uk-law-mcp (This Project)

Query 3,241 UK statutes directly from Claude -- UK GDPR, DPA 2018, Computer Misuse Act, Employment Rights Act, and more. Full provision text with EU derivation cross-references. npx @ansvar/uk-law-mcp

@ansvar/us-regulations-mcp

Query US federal and state compliance laws -- HIPAA, CCPA, SOX, GLBA, FERPA, and more. npx @ansvar/us-regulations-mcp

@ansvar/security-controls-mcp

Query 261 security frameworks -- ISO 27001, NIST CSF, SOC 2, CIS Controls, SCF, and more. npx @ansvar/security-controls-mcp

@ansvar/automotive-cybersecurity-mcp

Query UNECE R155/R156 and ISO 21434 -- Automotive cybersecurity compliance. npx @ansvar/automotive-cybersecurity-mcp

@ansvar/sanctions-mcp

Offline-capable sanctions screening -- OFAC, EU, UN sanctions lists. pip install ansvar-sanctions-mcp

70+ national law MCPs covering Australia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Netherlands, Norway, Peru, Sweden, Switzerland, and more.

---

Contributing

Contributions welcome! See CONTRIBUTING.md for guidelines.

Priority areas:

• Court case law expansion (BAILII integration)
• Northern Ireland-specific legal provisions
• Scottish law divergence tracking
• Historical statute versions and amendment tracking

---

Roadmap

• Core statute database with FTS5 search
• Full corpus ingestion (3,241 statutes, 512,651 provisions)
• EU/international law alignment tools
• Vercel Streamable HTTP deployment
• npm package publication
• Daily freshness checks against legislation.gov.uk
• Premium case law (65,026 judgments)
• Premium preparatory works (3,838 documents)
• Northern Ireland Windsor Framework annotations
• Scottish law divergence markers
• Historical statute versions (amendment tracking)
• Welsh language provision coverage

---

Citation

If you use this MCP server in academic research:

@software{uk_law_mcp_2026,
  author = {Ansvar Systems AB},
  title = {UK Law MCP Server: Production-Grade Legal Research Tool},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://github.com/Ansvar-Systems/UK-law-mcp},
  note = {3,241 UK statutes with 512,651 provisions sourced from legislation.gov.uk}
}

---

License

Apache License 2.0. See LICENSE for details.

Data Licenses

• Statutes: The National Archives (Open Parliament Licence / Open Government Licence)
• Case Law: BAILII (used under terms of service, premium tier)
• EU Metadata: EUR-Lex (EU public domain)

---

About Ansvar Systems

We build AI-accelerated compliance and legal research tools for the global market. This MCP server makes 3,241 UK statutes searchable from any AI client -- no browser tabs, no PDFs, no manual cross-referencing.

ansvar.eu -- Stockholm, Sweden

---

_{Built with care in Stockholm, Sweden}