The closer this Brexit deadline comes, the more convinced I am we as an electorate have acted with nowhere near the full facts of the debate. My mind changes daily as I hear more and more arguments for each side of the debate. I have always been a waverer, never 100% for or against and usually around 60/40 one way or the other because as Keynes famously said "if the facts change I change my mind"
This morning I have been reading the current edition of the NS and this fascinated me, I will repeat it verbatim for you.
"In 2002, a landmark case came before the Court of Appeal, a group of market traders soon dubbed the "metric martyrs" wanted to sell their goods in pounds and ounces. EU law required them to sell in Kilo's. The Lord Justice of Appeal in the case, John Laws, had to weigh the power relationship between Westminster and Brussels: was EU law supreme of was Parliament sovereign?
With characteristic elegance Laws threaded the needle. Both had primacy. Rights created by EU Law must be incorporated into British Law, and rank supreme over conflicting domestic laws. But the legal foundation of supremacy rested with Parliament , not the EU. The Martyrs were demanding the return of sovereignty they had never lost. Just as Britain had delegated power to Brussels, it could unilaterally take it back, at any time.
It would therefore be a mistake to assert, though it is often asserted, Laws reiterated in an interview 15 years later, that sovereignty was diminished by membership of the EU. To talk about taking back control would be spurious. Britain had control. "We have not lost the power to legislate for ourselves"
John Laws, is Dominic Cummings uncle...………"
The article then goes on to say.
"For Laws also believes the 2016 referendum is constitutionally troublesome" as he put it in 2017, "it troubles me very greatly" he said then, "you are having direct democracy and indirect democracy vying for position" The referendum has muddied the waters of political sovereignty by forcing MPs, the majority who backed remain to vote against their own political consciences" A vote that was supposed to hand back control has, in reality, handed it out to everyone and no one ; Parliament, the people , the government , the courts. All are playing a part on the national stage, but no one is playing the lead. For a referendum has no place in Britain's political system. Parliament being sovereign can not give up sovereignty - even outside of General elections, to its people. In theory this continues to be true, as the 2016 referendum act did not compel Parliament to act. In reality MPs have interpreted the referendum as having the force of law; a law that cannot be repealed. That has left Britain grappling a constitutional crisis"
As I type this I have been listening to our PM on the TV and I cannot help but think we have been conned, but I am still in favour albeit very marginally of leaving.
