I'm confused. One of the main reasons many people voted for us to leave the EU was because they don't like the power the EU has to impose laws on us nor the power that the Court of Justice of the European Union has to overrule the decisions of UK Courts. Many people voted for us to leave the EU because they wanted our Parliament to have the final say. They voted to take a stand for Parliamentary sovereignty which is a fundamental part of our great constitution. For those unfamiliar with this principle, 19th century philosopher AV Dicey described it best:
"The principle of Parliamentary sovereignty means neither more nor less than this, namely that Parliament has, under the English constitution, the right to make or unmake any law whatever: and, further, that no person or body is recognised by the law of England as having a right to override or set aside the legislation of Parliament" (A.V.Dicey 1885). Note that "no person or body" includes the Government.
For many there has always been a perceived conflict between Parliamentary sovereignty and the EU, so having voted in June to leave the EU in order to transfer power back to Parliament you would expect these same people to welcome any High Court ruling which upholds the supremacy of Parliament and the English constitution?
Apparently not.
Instead of congratulating Gina Miller in her land mark victory to uphold and protect the Supremacy of Parliament, she and the three High Court judges who found in her favour have been subjected to racist attacks and have been condemned as "enemies of the people" by a proportion of the mainstream media.
It is essential for people to understand that the High Court ruling has absolutely nothing to do with Brexit. It certainly isn't an insult to democracy. Quite the opposite in fact. What kind of democracy would we live in if the current Government who were elected having received just 36.7% of votes in the last general election had an unfettered power to make whatever changes they liked? This would be wholly unsatisfactory for the 63.3% of the country that didn't vote for them and is exactly why we have a supreme Parliament which includes the democratically elected House of Commons which is intended to be representative of the population, to ensure that nobody's view is ignored.
Unfortunately for Mrs May, what should have been made clear to the public is that referendums are not legally binding. Promises by her predecessor have put her in a difficult position. Had Parliament intended to enable the Government to trigger Article 50 this would have been made clear in the statute. This is not the case. So what now?
 |
| Tom Paget - Solicitor, Commercial |
If Mrs May is serious that "Brexit means Brexit" then she needs to bring the decision before the Members of Parliament as quickly as possible and we must rely on those members to represent and give effect to the wishes of those that elected them.
However you voted, what is clear is that we will gain nothing by leaving the EU unless we respect the High Court's decision and the supremacy of Parliament.
