| Topic: | Re:Re:Re:Re:Dyson | |
| Posted by: | T P Howell | |
| Date/Time: | 23/01/19 21:39:00 |
| Neither the Government nor Parliament have broken any promises about the Referendum. This is absolutely clear, and beyond any question, as a matter of English law. To state otherwise is to perpetuate yet another Brexit myth, and downright dangerous to usurp the rule of law. The United Kingdom constitution is based on the sovereignty of Parliament (I thought one of the Brexit arguments was about Parliamentary sovereignty). The electorate cannot give instructions to Parliament. This was confirmed in the 12th Report of Session 2009-10 of the House of Lords Select Committee on the Constitution (Referendums in the United Kingdom). The Committee included the following recommendation in para 197: “Because of the sovereignty of Parliament, referendums cannot be legally binding in the UK, and are therefore advisory. However, it would be difficult for Parliament to ignore a decisive expression of public opinion.” A marginal majority by a minority of the electorate cannot, by any stretch of the immagination be called "a decisive expression". The UK government’s response as recorded in the Committee’s Fourth Report of Session 2010-11 was: “The Government agrees with this recommendation. Under the UK’s constitutional arrangements Parliament must be responsible for deciding whether or not to take action in response to a referendum result.” This was confirmed in the decision by the Supreme Court (the highest court in the land) in the Miller case (Miller & Anor, R (on the application of) v Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union (Rev 3) [2017] UKSC 5 (24 January 2017)). (The "Enemies of the People" judgement, which tells you everything you need to know about the Daily Mail). Nothing that you, I, or the Government write on a leaflet can overrule the law of the land. I genuinely fear that we are descending into fascism when some members of society promote their cause by trying to distort the legal position, or take a "pick and mix" approach to which laws suit them, and which do not. |