Posted on 06/27/2016 7:56:30 PM PDT by dennisw
The country may just have voted 52% in favour of leaving the EU, but Brexit won’t become a reality unless voted for by members of Parliament, according to Geoffrey Robertson QC.
The lawyer, who set up Doughty Street Chambers, says the referendum was “purely advisory”, and his sentiments have been echoed by Charles Flint QC in a letter to the Times.
“Under our constitution, speaking as a constitutional lawyer, sovereignty rests in what we call the Queen in parliament,” Robertson told The Independent.
“It’s the right of MPs alone to make or break laws, and the peers to block them. So there’s no force whatsoever in the referendum result. It’s entirely for MPs to decide.”
The much spoken about Article 50, the mechanism by which an EU member can leave the union, says a state can only leave the EU “in accordance with its own constitutional requirements”.
“Our most fundamental constitutional requirement is that the decision must be taken by parliament. It will require a bill,” said Robertson.
“MPs will have to do their duty to vote according to conscience and vote for what’s best for Britain. It’s a matter for their consciences. They have got to behave courageously and conscientiously.
“Democracy in Britain doesn’t mean majority rule. It’s not the tyranny of the majority or the tyranny of the mob … it’s the representatives of the people, not the people themselves, who vote for them,” he said.
(Excerpt) Read more at britain-cant-leave-eu-without-140423176.html ...
Sounds like a brokered convention. What a crock.
“Vote their conscious”, where have I heard that before?
Their last revolution was Glorious. The next one might not be as pleasant.
MPs can break laws?
The peasantry’s will be damned...How ObamaClintonesque....
Please, do it.
I dare you.
L
And so it starts.
Not to worry, however.
The MPs have disarmed the proles. They can do nothing.
Not so for us.
Sounds like a brokered convention. What a crock.
How elitist of them.
Everybody in the U.K. knows that technically, nothing can happen without a vote of Parliament. Everybody also knows that there is no way Parliament is not going to follow the results of the referendum.
Referendum supersede representatives because its a direct vote instead of vote by proxy
The MPs said before the vote that if you vote Leave you’re out
Prime Minister Cameron would not have resigned if the referendum was simply advisory.
In theory, Parliament can set aside the vote of 17 million people to leave but as a practical matter, it would destroy faith in the country’s institutions.
To take the UK out of EU, Parliament needs to repeal the 1972 European Communities Act. It can deal with the rest after Article 50 is triggered.
Its not going to a clean and fast divorce. Its going to happen all the same over the next several years.
Good one, Tad.
Can you cite the UK law that states that a non-binding referendum, such as the Brexit vote, supersedes a vote of Parliament?
British law and custom are controlling here. American law is quite different and assumptions/analogies to American law are silly.
first they advertise polls saying brexit will lose. then the people speak on the only poll that matters. then they deny the force behind the brexit vote, then when that doesn’t work they’ll call for a second referendum and try to fix the vote to their desired results. their tricks are so obvious to those who are awake.
Legally the referendum was advisory. Practically, in terms of the UNWRITTEN British constitution, aka long-standing practice and custom, it was mandatory on Parliament, and the only issue is when the EU treaty two-year exit period clause is invoked. Britain is not America. Legal quibbles mean a lot less there unless criminal prosecution is involved.
the referendum was non-binding. parliament must still pass legislation to leave the EU, but it would be a bloodbath if they refused the will of the majority on this one.
I thought they don’t have a constitution.
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