UK prime minister Theresa May has announced a “Great Repeal” bill that
will strip the EU of all authority over UK Law.
The legislation is the First Step Towards Britain Leaving the EU.
Anyone who thought she would ignore the Brexit vote was mistaken. Instead,
May has become a cheerleader for Brexit.
Theresa May is to take Britain’s first step towards leaving the EU by
introducing a “Great Repeal bill” that will “make Britain a sovereign and
independent country again”, she has said.
Mrs May will announce her introduction of the bill, which she expects to
include in the next Queen’s Speech in April or May, to the Conservative
party’s annual conference in Birmingham on Sunday.
The legislation will overturn the 1972 European Communities Act — the
domestic law that gives the EU powers in Britain — Mrs May told the Sunday
Times. It will also convert existing EU-based laws into purely domestic
legislation.
Mrs May also said she would not wait until after the German elections next
autumn before triggering Article 50 — the official legal notification to
Britain’s EU partners that it is leaving the bloc. The timing will be based
on “UK interests”, not the convenience of other European nations, she told
the Sunday Times.
“The authority of EU law in Britain will end,” she said.
Theresa May, Cheerleader for Brexit
Theresa May believes she can crush parliamentary opposition to repeal of
the 1972 European Communities Act. Doing so will make the UK a sovereign
nation again.
The Financial Times reports Halfhearted Remain Campaigner Emerges as Cheerleader for
Brexit.
She was a halfhearted campaigner for Britain to stay in the EU but
speaking before the Conservative party faithful on Sunday Theresa May
presented herself as a confident cheerleader for Brexit, declaring: “We are
going to be a fully independent, sovereign country.” In doing so, she has
embarked on a daring game of brinkmanship with the rest of Europe.
Mrs May turned to the future, setting out plans to trigger the Article 50
exit clause by March 2017, when she will set out a list of demands that
sounded like they will comprise the decisive break with the EU demanded by
Tory Eurosceptics.
With her insistence that Britain would neither “give up control of
immigration again” nor submit to the rulings of the European Court of Justice
in Luxembourg, it is hard to see how the UK can continue as a member of the
single market.
Mrs May’s team insist no decision on the single market has been taken,
while the prime minister herself claimed that the distinction between a “hard
Brexit” and a “soft Brexit” was a false dichotomy and said that a bespoke
deal for the UK was available. She will find out soon enough: by setting an
Article 50 deadline of March 2017, Mrs May has given herself just six months
to decide on a negotiating strategy and to find out whether it can fly.
“What if the French say ‘non’?” asked one official — a risk that is more
than theoretical, since Mrs May intends to launch her démarche in the heated
environment of the French presidential elections in April and May.
The Euroscpetic Sun newspaper, which has lampooned many a Eurocrat,
portrayed the prime minister as Britannia — iconography it last deployed for
Margaret Thatcher.
May announced that Jeremy Wright, the attorney-general, would himself go
into battle in the courts to take on those who were trying “subvert”
democracy by challenging in her right to trigger Article 50 without
parliamentary consent.
Those who warned of the risks of a “hard Brexit” were often people who had
“still not accepted the result of the referendum”, Mrs May added. She
believes she can crush any parliamentary opposition to the repeal of the 1972
European Communities Act.
But that opposition is still likely to rear its head. Tim Farron, leader
of the pro-EU Liberal Democrats, said: “Theresa May has just confirmed that
we are going for a hard Brexit. This means no single market for Britain. This
means disaster for British jobs, businesses and our economy.”
Cheers for “Britannia”
A poorly thought out provision of the EU treaty is all nations must
approve treaty changes, trade agreements, etc., making even rudimentary
changes to the treaty difficult at best.
Whether or not France, Cyprus, or any other country says “non” is in one
sense irrelevant: The UK will be out of the EU by 2019.
Prisoners Dilemma of Sorts
Hard Brexit is not a choice the UK will make. Hard Brexit is a choice the
EU will make, and the EU will have to live with.
Sure, the EU can opt to punish the UK for leaving, but doing so simply
makes the EU look like a prison.
The UK will strive to protect itself. The best way would be to cut the
corporate tax rate to zero. That would have the EU hopping mad for sure.
Would businesses want to leave the UK for France? Hardly.
Insistence the UK get a “fair but inferior deal” is of course ridiculous
by definition. But that is the status quo (See Gang of 27 Hits UK with Impossible Demands: EU Seeks
“Inferior” Deal for UK, Spain Wants Gibraltar).
It would behoove the nannycrats in Brussels to consider it would be
impossible for the UK to accept freedom of movement of labor and refugees
when that is why the UK left.
Gang of 27 Demands
- Four freedoms or no freedoms. The main sticking point is
immigration.
- Pay to play. The EU wants money for access.
- Spain wants joint sovereignty over Gibraltar.
UK Demand
Immigration Restrictions
Four Freedoms
- The free movement of goods.
- The free movement of services and freedom of
establishment.
- The free movement of persons (and citizenship),
including free movement of workers.
- The free movement of capital.
EU Hypocrites on Free Movement of Capital
Curiously, the EU does not abide by its own rules. Greece is still under
capital controls. Cyprus was under capital controls from 2013 to 2015.
Free movement of capital? Ha!
EU Hypocrites on Free Movement of Services and Freedom of
Establishment
To understand the hypocrisy inherent in point number 2, Look no further
than French rules on nearly everything. Businesses cannot fire workers, move
elsewhere, shut plants, etc.
EU Hypocrites on Free Movement of Goods
Think goods move freely? Then think again.
Please consider French Farmers Dump 90,000 Bottles Worth of Spanish Wine
Because…Spanish!
Among the many wonders of the European Union was the creation of a vast,
free trade zone in which member countries could more or less import and
export goods with, er, impunity (not the right word, as it implies something
negative about economic exchange).
French farmers, among the most-subsidized being on the planets, have long
been mindful of any and all threats they believe might undermine their way of
life. And so, this:
A group of French farmers stopped two Spanish trucks on Monday at the toll
gate of Le Boulou in southern France near the border.
The farmers then dumped the wine the vehicles were transporting, according
to the Spanish Federation of Freight Transportation (CETM).
The assault took place in front of television crews and French police who
“allowed the demonstrators to act with impunity”, the CETM, which represents
truckers, said in a statement….
“These events, which unfortunately occur regularly, are a cause
of concern for the Spanish government, as they represent a flagrant violation
of several basic principles of the European Union, such as the free
circulation of goods between member states,” [the Spanish foreign
minister] added.
EU Hypocrites on Free Movement of Persons
The EU “Dublin” rule requires an asylum seeker to register in the first
country the refugee landed. How did that work out? And how many cascading
walls in how many countries came about as a result? Is bribing a country with
payments as Germany did Turkey in the spirit of the rule? What about the
positions of Austria, Hungary, Poland, and the Czech Republic?
Collective Bunch of Hypocrites
The EU is nothing but a collective bunch of hypocrites, insisting the UK
abide by rules that many nations freely flaunt.
Hard or soft, the UK was wise to rid itself of EU nannycrats and their
impossible to deal with regulations and bureaucracy.
Good riddance.
Mike “Mish” Shedlock
