In some ways I am not sure that there is much more to be added to what Dominic Grieve, the Tory MP, had to say on the EU Withdrawal Bill in the Evening Standard yesterday, where he noted that:
[W]orryingly, it seeks to confer powers on the Government to carry out Brexit in breach of our constitutional principles, in a manner that no sovereign Parliament should allow.
I wholeheartedly agree. As Jolyon Maugham has noted:
The very first clause of that Bill says:
The European Communities Act 1972 is repealed on exit day.
And “exit day” is defined as “such day as a Minister of the Crown may by regulations appoint.”
Yep, that's right. The government is proposing that a Minister gets to decide when our membership of the EU ends. And to make that decision without any Parliamentary control at all. None, zip, nada.
The consequence of Parliament agreeing to this clause is stark.
If talks do break down, it will be a Minister of the Crown — Boris Johnson, say — who has absolute unfettered discretion as to how to react. Parliament — our sovereign and democratically elected Parliament — will be completely sidelined from the most important decision our nation has made in recent times.
Giving unfettered power to a Minister, marginalising our Parliament, in respect of such an important decision is the very opposite of taking back control.
That's not the language a QC usually uses, but maybe it's appropriate to be as blunt as Jo is on this occasion; the issue may simply be too serious for anything else to be said.
The simple fact is whether any MP is pro or anti-Brexit does not matter. What does matter is that parliamentary sovereignty be maintained over an Executive who have proved themselves to have remarkably poor judgement on all issues to do with the EU. And this Bill as drafted does strip parliament of all power to deal with the biggest political issue of my lifetime. That is unacceptable and is why I would except the Bill to fail.
I do not expect this Bill to fail in the Commons.
I think there is good chance it will run into enormous obstacles in the Lords where, I suspect, there will be the passion to fight it until the point where May has to create hundreds of new peers and so discredit our whole parliamentary system to get it through. The Lords would be right to take that risk though. Better to show that parliament is under complete threat from this Bill than simply acquiesce. The fight for control is, I hope, on, but it's not the one that the Brexiteers were expecting.
Thanks for reading this post.
You can share this post on social media of your choice by clicking these icons:
You can subscribe to this blog's daily email here.
And if you would like to support this blog you can, here:
Watched from “outside” the whole Brexit issue no longer seems to be to “Leave the EU”, NOT by taking back control from us EU27 and the ECJ, but from your VERY OWN electorate…
Erdogan has proved how this can be done: he declared all (alleged) Gülen “supporters” to be traitors.
Hardcore Brexiters denounce every rational minded critic as “undemocratic traitor”.
Clemsam – you have precisely identified the aim. This ‘just Leave’ was of course always the aim. Because Leaving was always about making us into an extreme right wing state by exiting a political safeguard.
I despair at this outcome in two levels. Obviously mainly and hugely at the ultra-right contrivers over four decades who led us up this path. But also at the myopic neoliberal Remainers who in their urge to promote their stupid ideology have strengthened the ultra-right’s framework and enabled their victory. Right up to and during – and beyond – their Referendum effort which was so non-critical of the EU in current form that they drove huge numbers to Leave.
Brian, I’m sorry, but I doubt much of the Remain campaign drove people to vote to leave the EU. If anything, the campaign was mostly too reasonable, in that it didn’t make cynical use of populist emotive catch phrases like the Leave campaign did.
I would agree that Cameron and Osborne’s austerity economics contributed to the result by making more and more people increasingly desperate and bitter; and when people are in that state, they will behave unreasonably, and are easy prey to conmen like the Brexiters.
Whatever the faults of the EU in terms of the operation of the Euro, it wasn’t responsible for the problems in this country. I never cease to be astonished at the stupidity of left wing Leave voters in voting the same way as the very worst right wingers, who, as we both agree, are going to try and use Brexit to impose their own extreme right wing ideology on the UK.
sickoftaxdodgers – we may be singing a different verse of the same hymn. Campaign being ‘too reasonable’ could also be said about it being shy of voicing against EU defects, which when added to a watered-down Reform message because neoliberals across three parties like the EU in its clearly-broken form, handed the narrative to Leave.
In your other comment you understandably share Richard’s despair that the bill will get passed in the Commons.
I suggest this is part and parcel of the Remain weakness. Leave are extreme, but they are also enabled. The fact it could pass despite there being still a significant portion on the Tory benches against the extremity of Leave, itself exposes the Remain platform as simply not opposition.
Not detracting from extremity of Leave, at all. But I sense there is some ignoring of a contributory fact, caused by neoliberal over-dominance in Remain.
@Brian Carter
“Not detracting from extremity of Leave, at all. But I sense there is some ignoring of a contributory fact, caused by neoliberal over-dominance in Remain”
Spot on! The failure to accept that many leavers, myself included, saw the vote as a once in a lifetime opportunity to say we don’t want the status quo is a fatal flaw in the arguments of many of those who oppose brexit.
Bill Mitchell has some views of the failure of the liberal left in this regard: http://bilbo.economicoutlook.net/blog/?p=36746
But the vote was not about that
It was about the EU
Sorry – protests belong to general elections and if you were mistaken enough to cast your vote for something not on the ballot paper I think I have the right to ignore your vote
@Richard
I disagree. General Elections have not for a long long time offered a choice other than either neoliberalism or neoliberalism.
Yes they have
You could have voted Green for a start
By their rabid opposition to Article 50 being scrutinised by Parliament, the Brexiters have already proved how anti democratic they are, and how little they actually care for the sovereignty of Parliament.
They are nationalist demagogues, not democrats or patriots. The only control they’ve ever wanted to ‘take back’ is their control over Britain, where they impose their own hard right economic and nationalist model on everybody else.
The fact they conned just enough ignorant, angry or desperate people into voting to leave the EU does not give them the right to impose this on the rest of us.
But what is just as sickening about this Richard is your statement “I do not expect this Bill to fail in the Commons.” Presumably because pro EU Tories will still put the interests of ‘party loyalty’ before those of the country, proving that they really don’t have any moral or intellectual integrity.
Pathetic.
Dominic Grieve is a very principled politician. He’s right of course as anyone with the slightest understanding of the way our democracy operates would know.
[…] Brexit divide are willing to join opposition MPs in opposing the so-called Henry VIII powers that would let ministers amend up to 1,000 laws using little scrutinised secondary legislation. Whatever their reason, it […]
Roger (and to a much lesser extent, Brian), I’m afraid your reasoning here is wrong, as Richard points out. To use the EU referendum vote as a protest vote is incredibly irresponsible, given what is going to happen when (if?) the UK leaves the EU. How many times does it have to be said, that the people whose hard right ideology has caused so much discontent are largely the same people behind the Leave campaign; right wing libertarians and nationalists.
These are the same people who are trying to drive through a ‘hard’ Brexit, regardless of the economic damage it’ll cause. People who voted Leave as a protest against the idiots Cameron and Osborne are going to find themselves far worse off than ever – haven’t you heard of ‘out of the frying pan into the fire’?
Haven’t you asked yourself why every single far right, racist organisation backed Leave? Because they hate the internationalist ideals and human rights that the EU stands for. Jesus wept, nobody’s saying the EU is perfect, but in what conceivable way is Britain going to improve outside it?
Explain to me how you left wing opponents of the EU are going to stop a far right takeover of our very fragile democracy; the selling off of what remain of national assets to foreign corporations when a massively weakened UK rushes into free trade deals with anybody and everybody; a massive increase in poverty, crime and civil unrest if we crash out of the EU, as seems increasingly likely?
I would express it differently, but I agree with the sentiments
Is it not true that whilst the EU embraces neoliberal ideas around the free movement of labour and goods, its is very strongly counter-balanced with robust laws on human rights and the environment. The EU cannot be viewed as perfect by any means but this balance has I think ensured it longevity, that and the active involvement in all members in the decision making process.
I think that’s more or less it Gill. The EU is about regulated markets, the anti EU movement in the UK is driven a toxic combination of free market fundamentalists who’ve learned nothing from the 2008 crash other than buck passing, and British nationalists driven by anti immigrant sentiment and delusions of British grandeur.
How left wingers can ally themselves with that lot..crazy.
Agreed