I am no lawyer but I am flummoxed by the Article 50 legal hearing currently before the British Supreme Court. The issue is whether Parliament should have the final say in Brexit, if necessary over-ruling any agreement made with the EU. The reason I am puzzled is the reported preoccupation with the phrase “from time to time”. Section 2, sub-section 1, of the European Communities Act of 1972 (I won’t quote it verbatim – it will put you to sleep) says, in effect, that once the Act is passed you don’t need any further parliamentary Act when the EU hands down “from time to time” various rules and regulations etc. Seems sensible. The Government is now asking the Supreme Court to believe that the “from time to time” phrase gives the UK a mechanism for opting out of the EU without actually revoking the Act. But Brexit isn’t just a normal piece of regulation – it is a totally irrevocable, huge and seismic event.
Brexit is in fact a repeal of the accession, which was agreed by the British parliament in 1972. If they agreed it, they should repeal it. Period. It’s a sort of divorce, and divorce doesn’t occur “from time to time”. Moreover, the words “from time to time” apply to the rights conferred by the EU, not to the treaties, which have been fixed by Parliament. You can’t scrap the treaties without parliament having the final say. Nor can the rights conferred by the treaties, such as freedom of movement , non-discrimination etc, be simply scrapped by Government edict. There is a thing called the Bill of Rights which confers inalienable freedoms on the people. I think I may be correct in stating that the new rights granted by the EU now come under the aegis of the Bill of Rights and can’t just be scrapped. (Based upon an article by Andrew O’Hagan in the London Review of Books)
Even if Parliament does have the final say there is some doubt as to whether the politicians will dare go against the will of the majority as expressed in the wretched referendum and possibly lose their seats as a result. But meanwhile the Conservative government is making itself slightly ridiculous, while the Scots, and maybe the Welsh, are relishing the arguments which are stoking the flames of their own exits from the United Kingdom. Make Britain Great again?
The government is totally wrong about this. As Dominic Grieve says, Parliament voted to join the EU (or the EEC as it was then known), Parliament should vote to leave it. The idea that we are restoring parliamentary sovereignty by having the executive bypass Parliament is laughable!
Look I wouldn’t want to overturn the referendum result. But Leave campaigners are acting like bullies. They demonise Remain voters as “Remoaners” and enemies of the people- the sort of rhetoric used by the enemies of fascists. They explode in a fit of rage at anyone who has any scepticism of Britain’s negotiating position, the actions of the government, or Britain’s economic prospects outside the EU. Its just like the Iraq War all over again, where opponents are accused of undue pessimism and talking their country down. In short, Leave campaigners are demanding that Remain voters switch off their critical faculties. That’s simply unacceptable.
The fact is that Brexit is a great leap into uncharted territory. No country has ever left the EU before, so we have no historical examples to go by. Everything from restricted access, to the Single Market to the possibility of a hard border between Northern Ireland and the Republic, is on the cards. What doesn’t help, is the government’s insistence on not ‘revealing its hand’ by telling us what their plan is. I suspect they won’t tell us their plan because they haven’t got one. And even if they did, its a mistake not to tell the public because it creates economic uncertainty, and it rests on the absurd presumption that the EU is some kind of enemy that has to be outplayed, if not defeated.
The truth is, the EU is our friend, not our enemy. Regardless of the referendum result, its in our interests to be as close to the EU as possible, and vice versa. The government should ensure we stay in the Single Market and Customs Union. Yes that means free movement of people, but that’s an economic benefit and an opportunity for Britons as well as other Europeans. Of course, some Leave voters will feel betrayed. But the referendum never specified what sort of Brexit we should have. And particularly given such a narrow result, the government should ensure that the interests of all are considered, not just those on the winning side.