Wonder what the fuss about the Withdrawal Agreement is all about?

Well, former prime ministers, well-known Remainers, John Major and Tony Blair give the game away in an article in the Sunday Times last week.  It is their view that if our democratically elected parliament passes the Internal Market Bill, then the UK is ‘bound to end up before the European Court of Justice’ because ‘under the Northern Ireland Protocol, [the ECJ] retains jurisdiction over EU rules’. 

Yes, you read that correctly.  The UK could still be taken to court by the EU which we have actually already legally parted from in January, for decisions it takes in its own sovereign territory.    

Well, we have to say a big thank you to Messrs Major and Blair for putting this in crystal clear language.  And telling us exactly why they don’t want the Withdrawal Agreement to be replaced.  But there is nothing new here.  They are simply reminding us that they reject the largest vote in the history of this country. This is their last throw of the dice to impose their views over those of the majority.    

We know Messrs Blair and Major are as determined to retain EU oversight in the UK as they ever were.

One amusing, but scary part of their article is where they argue that adherence to international law is ‘just as important’ as adherence to domestic law; that internationally drafted treaties should be viewed ‘in the same way’ as the laws drawn up by the elected parliament in the UK itself.      

Bingo!!  In print (or online if you are digitally minded), the Brexit battle summed up. 

As Brendan O’Neil, the editor of Spiked writes, “There are those who believe that international laws, rules, regulations and treaties, whether drawn up in the EU or the UN, should have the same authority as laws drawn up in a democratically elected national parliament, and there are those of us who believe that the parliament we elect should be sovereign over everything else, including treaties we signed and have now changed our minds about.  A parliament bound by international treaties it cannot change, and threatened by legal action from a foreign court, is not a free parliament.  There is only one problem with the Internal Market Bill: it doesn’t go far enough.  To defend democracy in the UK, the Withdrawal Agreement must not only be tweaked – it must be torn up.”