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Jessica Simor QC @JMPSimor
, 4 tweets, 2 min read Read on Twitter
HMG initially said that it would ratify the Withdrawal Agreement after it had laid it before Parliament in accordance with s. 20 of the Constitutional Reform and Governance Act 2010. This allowed limited control/scrutiny & was inappropriate considering the implications of the WA
Following pressure, including in pre-action correspondence in a case brought by @BestForBritain @TechForUK @OFOCBrexit HMG amended the Withdrawal Bill to provide for an Act of Parliament prior to ratification in s. 13(1)(d).
If we get that far, HMG will not be able to ratify any WA until Parliament has passed implementing legislation (the Withdrawal & Implementation Bill). That legislation can be amended to provide for a referendum on whether to accept the WA or stay a member of the EU.
Time is too short though for this to happen before 29 March 2019. HMG will have to ask the EU 27 for an extension for such a vote.
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@AndrewMarr9 @MarrShow - you will recall about a year ago mentioning a letter I wrote to the PM asking her to disclose the advice she had received that Article 50 was unilaterally revocable. She refused to do so and paid 5 QCs to try and stop the ECJ ruling on the point. Why?
Please ask her why she would prefer to risk people's lives, stockpile food, send 1000 police to Northern Ireland, spend millions on fridges rather than revoke Article 50? Please ask her how badly no deal compares with remaining in the EU?
Please ask her whether she thinks if the referendum had been between a no deal scenario and remaining, 'no deal' would have won? If she is sure it would be no deal please ask her why?
Read 5 tweets
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Note that the Electoral Commission only opened its investigation into 'Better for the Country'- Arron Banks' outfit - after @GoodLawProject issued judicial review proceedings against it concerning decision to close its investigation into Vote Leave on 24 October 17 1/
In that claim @GoodLawProject noted the failure of the Electoral Commission to make the relevant connections - see image.
electoralcommission.org.uk/i-am-a/journal…
And this evening I see that the producer of Brexit the Movie, David Shiply has been charged with £500,000 fraud: theguardian.com/politics/2018/…
Better for the Country (Banks) funded this movie too: see image in previous tweet from the @GoodLawProject grounds of claim.
Read 6 tweets
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Rightwing thinktanks unveil radical plan for US-UK Brexit trade deal theguardian.com/politics/2018/…
Paper by amongst other @DanielJHannan for Cato Institute (see TPA, IEA etc - same bods). The essential hypothesis is that if you can't get achieve a reciprocal dropping of trade barriers, it's still better to drop them unilaterally even if this costs jobs in your country.
The proposal is that the UK opens its market, including the NHS, entirely to the U.S.
Read 4 tweets

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Quick #Brexit thread on why the Withdrawal Agreement is taking so long to pass Parliament.

At the first run at the meaningful vote in December, 163 MPs spoke.

69 Conservative MPs stood up - but only 27 spoke in favour of the deal, including the frontbench ministers (who must)!
This understates a lot of support for the Withdrawal Agreement in Parliament (because of the payroll vote @addadc is so fond of).

But without the DUP, who remain opposed to the backstop, it is unclear where more support could emerge besides a handful of rebels or independents.
If the Withdrawal Agreement fails (as expected), the PM said there's a real chance of no deal or no Brexit. So what did MPs think?

Some didn't say. But there was massive resistance to the idea of no deal while a significant number (including Tories) backed a 2nd referendum
Read 5 tweets
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Some (early and initial, so heavily caveated) thoughts on the EEA Withdrawal Agreement which the Government released “publicly” on the day Parliament rose for the Christmas recess (without it appears making an announcement to the public via a media or press release)
First, there are those who incorrectly say a127 notice is not needed because the UK is only a member of the EEA via EU membership (the a126 argument). They are wrong for the reasons others including the former president of the EFTA court Carl Baudenbacher and @george_yarrow
@GeorgePeretzQC and myself have previously stated. The UK signed the EEA agreement sui generis and whilst an EU state is obliged to be a signatory to the agreement that is not the same saying a signatory state has to be a member of the EU (or efta).
Read 21 tweets
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Yesterday, two days before Christmas and after the UK Parliament had risen for xmas, EFTA announced that the UK government and its 3 member states had concluded an agreement of the withdrawal terms of the UK withdrawing from the EEA Agreement. efta.int/EEA/news/EEA-E…
This news means attempts by @SKinnock @NickBoles et al to keep is in the EEA after Brexit now require application to rejoin EEA as well as EFTA. This news means 2 things. (1) having resisted the legal challenge over its decision to simply disapply the EEA rather than fulfill
It’s legal obligations under a127, HMG has clearly accepted the legal position advanced by @GeorgePeretzQC in the JR I and @eurorealist brought in Jan 2017. This is a Pyrrhic victory in every sense: in winning the legal point we have lost the wider battle.
Read 11 tweets
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Lots of news sites leading on @theresa_May's claim, in interview w @bbcnickrobinson, that MPs' vote on the Brexit deal will be a choice between what she has negotiated, and no deal at all. But as @instituteforgov has argued, the reality is more complex. 1/
bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politi…
Ofc, the PM is right that the legal defaults are set to no deal. The UK is scheduled to leave the EU on 29 March 2019. This does not automatically change if the UK and the EU fail to agree a deal, nor does it automatically change if Parliament declines to approve the deal. 2/
But, if Parliament wants to express a view beyond ‘yes or no’, it will be able to. For a start, MPs will be able to amend the motion to approve the government's deal. More explanation of this here. 3/
instituteforgovernment.org.uk/publications/v…
Read 17 tweets
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Okay this can be this afternoon's #ContinuityBill thread. If you aren't interested, you might want to mute it.
Live-stream here: supremecourt.uk/live/court-01.… And we left off talking about clause 17 of the Continuity Bill ('CB)': parliament.scot/UK%20Withdrawa… The Advocate General ('AG') was making the case that clause 17 is outside the competence of the Scot Parl.
Judges are back in: supremecourt.uk/live/court-01.…
Read 58 tweets
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1/x Much fuss over the Lords amendment on "meaningful vote" on the Brexit withdrawal agreement last night, but I haven't seen any detailed discussion of what it entails. Here's some thoughts. First, the text (h/t @emcmillanscott for it)
2/ The Lords amendment is better drafted and more comprehensive than the Commons "meaningful vote" amendment (remember that?), which only limited the government from going ahead with some secondary legislation. Of course the Commons still has to agree with this one.
3/ There are two parts to the Lords amendment: parliamentary control over ratifying the withdrawal agreement itself (sub-clauses 1 to 3), and the possible "directions" that Parliament might give to the government (sub-clauses 5 to 8). However, these two parts are linked.
Read 19 tweets

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