“Brexit has definitely not been done,” say politicians in Parliament

Angered by the EU, they react to our report of EU legal actions in the UK

Montage © Facts4EU.Org 2022

“Applies a wrecking ball to our Union”, “We are not a sovereign country”

There was strong condemnation of the EU - and to a slightly lesser extent of the Government - from politicians in the House of Lords, House of Commons, and in Northern Ireland, following their early sight of our report yesterday into the EU’s behaviour in imposing its own laws on a sovereign part of the United Kingdom.

Feelings are running high amongst those who are in favour of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. Below we provide readers with a flavour of what we were told by some key figures in the fight to keep the Union intact. Once again this is published in support of CIBUK's Rebuttal Unit.

Baroness Hoey of Lylehill and Rathlin

“This legal action against the UK Government shows that despite the claims that ‘Brexit has been done’ it definitely has not.
“While one square mile of UK territory stays under EU laws and the EU Court of Justice, we will have constant legal actions being taken against the UK. It really is time for our Government to get a grip of what is happening and to stand up to this harassment by an EU simply wanting to punish us for leaving their club.
“While the Protocol remains in place we are not a sovereign country.”
- Baroness Kate Hoey, House of Lords, speaking exclusively to Facts4EU and CIBUK.Org

The Rt Hon Sir John Redwood MP

“The Northern Ireland Protocol legislation which passed the Commons unamended with good majorities is making more difficult progress in the Lords.
“If their lordships don't see the wisdom of it, it will need to be Parliament acted and there's still time to do that. We think it is essential to clarify the Northern Ireland Protocol, so that Northern Ireland can be properly and fully part of the United Kingdom and have a full exit from the EU in the way that Great Britain has enjoyed under the existing interpretation of the agreement.

“None of us who have been active in promoting this legislation think it entails breaking international law. If you read the Northern Ireland Protocol, it is ambiguous and contradictory, and there is plenty of ground for us to assert in UK legislation that GB to NI trade should be as free as trade within GB. Because it's all part of the same country, whereas it's not at the moment because of the perverse way in which the European Union is implementing it.
“We're also very keen to stress that there should not be enforced convergence or compliance with EU law in Northern Ireland because they may export some things to the Republic. Anything that is not exported to the Republic should be under good UK law in the way that it is in GB and we need to be able to bury that more from European law as as we go forward.
“And above all, we wish to make it very clear that the European Court of Justice can have no role in decision-making over trade and business regulation in Northern Ireland any more than it has now for the rest of GB, so it's an alignment piece of legislation.
“The government is properly still conducting negotiations with the EU in the hope that there is a negotiated settlement and agreed interpretation of the Protocol, but I and my colleagues think that's highly unlikely because the EU will not flex its negotiating mandate to its chief negotiator, and shows no willingness to understand the fundamental problem which has broken apart the Good Friday Agreement and prevents devolved government taking place in Northern Ireland.”
- The Rt Hon Sir John Redwood MP, speaking exclusively to Facts4EU and CIBUK.Org

Jim Allister MLA KC, Leader of the TUV Party

“The Union of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is a parliamentary and economic union. That is what the Acts of Union, both the Irish and Scottish, created: a unified Parliament and a unified economy and single market.
“Art 6 of the Acts of Union is what creates the economic union by providing that all trade between and within the U.K. shall be on “the same footing”. The Protocol, of course, trashes that by putting a trade border in the Irish Sea.

“Today, the Government, faced with the prohibitions in Article 6, boldly argued, in order to contend for the legality of the Protocol, that its effect is to “disapply” Article 6 and, indeed, any other provision that stands in its way, which could even include the consent principle of Section 1 of the NI Act 1998.
“This argument, if approved by the Court, applies a wrecking ball to our Union. Once, of course, the economic union is not sacrosanct, then, nothing in the Acts of Union is safe.
“The Jesuitical pretence that there is a practical distinction between “disapplication” and “repeal” only adds disingenuous spin. If something is disapplied it is of no effect and might as well be repealed.
“HMG’s argument should bring home to every unionist just how constitutionally dire and dangerous the Protocol is. Moreover, it should confirm Unionists who care in their resolve that the Protocol must go and that there can be no let up in the political campaign against it, including the refusal to operate institutions which of necessity would have to implement this dismantling of the Union.”
- Jim Allister MLA KC, Leader of the Traditional Unionist Voice Party

Lord Walsingham, ex-Foreign Office German Political Department

“After 60 years of EU membership the civil service has mostly become ignorant and idle Remainers, who found it quite convenient for decisions to be taken prior to issues being sent to UK. You would think everyone would notice that Europe was not democratic and was a dictatorship, but so far nobody has noticed.”
- Lord Walsingham, commenting exclusively to Facts4EU and CIBUK

Observations

If part of the UK must obey laws imposed by a foreign power then the United Kingdom is not sovereign.

If the N.I. Protocol negates the Act of Union then the United Kingdom is not sovereign.

And if the Protocol breaches the Belfast (Good Friday) Agreement, which it does, then the EU is effectively acting as a foreign aggressor and agent working against a hard-won peace.

Facts4EU.Org and CIBUK.Org are grateful to all those who contributed their thoughts on the current, sorry state of affairs.

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[ Sources: As cited above ] Politicians and journalists can contact us for details, as ever.

Brexit Facts4EU.Org, Sat 03 Dec 2022

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Reader Comments 9

1. Tim B , Saturday, December 03, 2022, 09:58:

Baroness Hoey and Jim Allister are absolutely correct but who is listening?

2. LuxuryBalloon , Saturday, December 03, 2022, 11:03:

Brexit offered a great opportunity to build a hard border between NI and the RoI … and get the EU to pay for it.

3. Buster , Saturday, December 03, 2022, 16:00:

Idiots who promoted Brexit angry at the consequences of Brexit.
It’d be amusing if it weren’t so pathetic and damaging to our country.

4. Peter Smith , Saturday, December 03, 2022, 17:04:

The biggest mistake with Brexit, was not having elected representatives with the guts to carry it through. It was obvious from the time of the referendum result, that those remain voters in power, would use all the skullduggery and Guerrilla warfare they could, to help the EU in its quest to punish the UK.

5. W.J. Davison , Saturday, December 03, 2022, 17:33:

Well, it looks like the end of the Union, at least in the case of Northern Ireland, and it's being facilitated by our own government. If NI can be so easily disposed of, then so can Scotland. Profoundly depressing, and I was naive enough to believe that the Good Friday Agreement, which I voted for, actually meant something. The answer to Tim B is nobody is listening and nobody cares. Our government has obviously decided that maintaining close relations with the EU and placating the Irish government is more important than defending the GFA and the Union. What a bunch of gutless charlatans they are!

6. jon livesey , Saturday, December 03, 2022, 18:25:

The craziest position here is to say this is a consequence of Brexit. In fact this is merely the EU's revenge for Brexit, and what is more, now that we are out of the EU we can resist and reverse this. The EU cannot actually *make* NI leave the UK, short of military action - what a joke - and even if by some magic they did manage to do so they would simply inherit a huge problem of partisan violence and even the most crazed EU enthusiast presumable does not want that.
The alternative to Brexit was not a future of sweetness and light. It was a future in which the ECJ broke up the UK by a stroke of the pen and then blamed us for any negative consequences. Membership of an EU run by people who had an instinctive hatred of the UK was always a terrible idea. The fact that we have not yet fully escaped the EU is not the worst possible outcome.
The EU are still enemies of the UK, and they can still cause problems, but at least we are no longer totally in their power.

7. jon livesey , Saturday, December 03, 2022, 18:55:

I just read a long, pessimistic, article on Bloomberg abut the problems the new Prime Minister faces. It did not make pleasant reading because all the challenges they listed were real and hard to fix. If the Government can address half of them, we will be really fortunate.
But one thing I noticed was the Brexit did not get even a single mention. In the past Bloomberg ran a long anti-Brexit campaign, but there was no notion that joining the EU would solve a single problem - how could there be when the EU has things even worse? and there was no suggestion that the EU have any better policies. Neither Brexit nor the EU were in the frame at all.
All our currrent problems are ours to solve, and the EU has its own to solve, and that is the best outcome for everyone.

8. gazzablack , Saturday, December 03, 2022, 22:50:

For Bluster
Here's a Short Catechism to help EuroCitizens think correctly.
Regulation is Freedom.
Sovereignty is Slavery.
Individuality is Isolation.
Borders are Infringements.
Votes are Shackles.
Rights are Curtailments.
.
Brexit was not a 'huge mistake'; it was an act of defiance by a free people at the prospect of a takeover by a foreign power.
It was the most liberating event in modern British history and something of which we should — as a sovereign nation state — be enormously proud.

9. Carlo Guli , Sunday, December 04, 2022, 00:27:

Every day the inadmissible NI Protocol remains in effect proves what the EU has become from its origins as a trade and cooperation agreement: a litigious aggressive dictatorship, of dubious legitimacy, endangering peace and prosperity in Europe.

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