The EU/Brexit Blog

First of all, I apologise for my brief sabbatical. There was a circle of repetitive Brexit-related news found across all mainstream mediums and having addressed them, I felt it unnecessary to further comment on issues and ideas. However, the elephant in the room is that Mrs May has lost her 'meaningful vote' by 230 votes, the largest government defeat in history and the message from the Commons to May could not be clearer. Parliament fundamentally rejects the deal presented and no matter the amendments proposed, the deal is flawed and will never be supported by the Commons. Now, this vote is not legally binding but it would be politically suicidal to pursue with such a deal as fellow parliamentarians would argue the executive is acting independent of Parliament and, no doubt, a successful vote of no confidence would follow. There was talk earlier on Tuesday that May would, if there was a minor loss of her deal, to allows the proposal of amendments and return to the EU and u...

(Written on Sunday the 9th of December) What a mysterious topic this is. Back in early 2017, the big news was whether the UK could unilaterally revoke Article 50. This was emphatically refuted by both the EU and UK parliament as being both unconstitutional as well as unfeasible. Low and behold, we find ourselves about to enter 2019 with this exact discussion arising yet again. However, one of those limiting factors is being questioned as to whether it is legitimate or not. This would be the feasibility. Let's not get ahead of ourselves, and as much as I dislike the cliche, the phrase 'democratic will of the people' pretty much makes the ability of government to revoke A50 despite having the referendum of 2016 infinitesimal. However, there is a real boredom arising from the general public who are fed up of talking about Brexit and just want to focus on judicial reform, housing reform and, of course, transport reform. These are the issues the public care about and I woul...

(Written on Tuesday the 4th of December 2018) As I sit here on a cold Tuesday evening, I remember thinking at 4pm that today had been relatively quiet so far in terms of news - with the headline being the BBC pulling out of a Brexit debate designed to be ahead of the Brexit vote in just one weeks time. Then I chuckled to myself as I remembered that the government would face two further votes in the Commons that would have immense implications for the nation and Brexit. So, whilst the Government had earlier lost a vote asking that the issue of contempt be referred to the Commons Privilege Committee but that had been defeated by MPs earlier today. The issue of contempt is substantial. A vote in the Commons passed on the 13th of November requiring the government to publish the entire legal text regarding Brexit. The way I like to think about this is the Attorney General is the government's lawyer. They have to determine whether legislation is legal and compatible in the UK and ...