Article

2019-09-07 Britain

Second court rules in favor of Boris Johnson's suspension of Parliament

[THEHILL] A panel of three judges dismissed a case brought by Britain's former Prime Minister John Major and businesswoman Gina Miller arguing that current Prime Minister Boris Johnson's attempt to suspend Parliament through prorogation is an abuse of power, Bloomberg reported Friday.

The case will be appealed to the U.K.'s highest court, handing Johnson a second legal victory and setting up a final battle over Parliament and likely the fate of the U.K.'s exit from the European Union (EU) in the Supreme Court.

Miller slammed the ruling in a press conference Friday, according to Bloomberg, and vowed to continue the battle before the nation's highest court.

“Today we stand for everyone, we stand for future generations, and we stand for representative democracy,” she reportedly said. “To give up now would be a dereliction of our responsibilities.”

“As disappointed with the result as Mrs. Miller will be, we will go to the Supreme Court,” her attorney reportedly added.

Johnson has attempted to suspend British Parliament over its so-far successful efforts to block a "no-deal Brexit," or a departure from the EU without a formal trading agreement and provisions to ensure free passage in and out of the U.K., particularly on the border of Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland.

The U.K. is set to leave the EU on Oct. 31, which currently sits as the deadline for passing an agreement on border protections and trade.

Posted by Fred 2019-09-07 00:00|| || Front Page|| [11133 views ] Top

#1 "Politics is downstream from Culture" Rumor has it the Queen disapproves of the Mandarins of the EU and thus a lot of the upper classes will piss all over people like John Major.

Posted by Groth Hupans2047 2019-09-07 01:30|| 2019-09-07 01:30|| Front Page Top

#2 The Backstop problem: Feel free to offer a solution. I'm sure Boris would be happy.

The backstop is an emergency solution, which the EU and Great Britain have agreed on in the Brexit treaty, so that in the future it is guaranteed that this border will remain open. This is the only way for both sides to fulfill the requirements of the peace treaty of 10 April 1998, which stipulates that the border must not impede the coexistence of the Irish through any border controls.

As long as the UK - and thus Northern Ireland - was a member of the EU, the problem did not arise. However, this changes with the UK's withdrawal from the EU Customs Union and the internal market, because at the same time the line between the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland suddenly turns into the EU's external border. This means that customs controls, product origin, quality controls and veterinary inspections of livestock must be carried out automatically.

The border problem will be solved once the UK and the EU have agreed on a permanent free trade agreement. But this may take years. Britain and the EU have agreed on a two-year transitional period after the Brexit agreement in March 2019. This transitional period can actually be extended one more time.

But if the negotiations take longer or both sides cannot agree, Brussels will make sure that the backstop comes into play. This emergency solution for the border means that Great Britain will continue to form a customs union with the EU, so that customs controls at the Irish border can be dispensed with. At the same time, Northern Ireland is to remain in the EU's single market for freight traffic, making border controls superfluous with regard to freight traffic and veterinary controls.

At the same time, the sea between Northern Ireland and the "mainland" Britain will become an imaginary border of the EU internal market and quality controls in the ports will become necessary. English livestock brought from England to Northern Ireland, for example, must then be inspected in the ports of Northern Ireland. This agreement is being met with resistance in the British Parliament.

The Northern Ireland DUP party does not accept that Northern Ireland should be treated differently from the rest of the UK in the case of Backstop. For the DUP, the United Kingdom must not be divided, not even by different quality rules. Hence the DUP's categorical no to the backstop in the withdrawal contract.

The British Parliament opposes the fact that the backstop forces the UK into a customs union with the EU. This makes it more difficult to negotiate free trade agreements with third countries. It is also completely unacceptable for many Brexiteers that the UK cannot get out of Backstop alone. The EU must agree to this.

The backstop shows the deep mistrust that exists between both sides. The British fear that the EU will be able to blackmail the UK: Either you accept our proposal of a future free trade agreement - or we won't let you out of the backstop, keep you in a customs union and Northern Ireland in the EU internal market.

The EU, for its part, fears that the British will simply rely on the EU to waive all border controls anyway in order not to endanger the Irish peace. But this would not be allowed under WTO rules. A country violates the principle of equal treatment when it freely imports goods from a neighboring country - Northern Ireland, for example - but controls trade from other countries. That is why the EU is adamant about the backstop.

The backstop is part of the legally binding withdrawal agreement, which the EU no longer wants to change. British demands that the backstop be dropped are therefore unrealistic.

So, what do you propose?

Posted by European Conservative 2019-09-07 01:44|| 2019-09-07 01:44|| Front Page Top

#3 "A Briton will never be a slave" still relevant?

Posted by g(r)omgoru PB 2019-09-07 03:05|| 2019-09-07 03:05|| Front Page Top

#4 Where would those poor downtrodden Irish be if the couldn't bitch and moan about the bloody Brits?

Posted by Abu Uluque 2019-09-07 11:04|| 2019-09-07 11:04|| Front Page Top

#5 Leave under WTO, but in the Name of God just Go!

The MP's ignoring the instructions of their electorate are getting sacked from their parliamentary committee and thus next election will not be MP's either.

The UK just needs to eject from the omnishambles that is the EUSSR.

Posted by Bright Pebbles 2019-09-07 17:17|| 2019-09-07 17:17|| Front Page Top

#6 I would like to hear an argument but none seems to be forthcoming.

Posted by European Conservative 2019-09-07 18:05|| 2019-09-07 18:05|| Front Page Top

#7 It's not up to me to propose a solution to a border squabble between the UK and Ireland/EUSSR. They can work it out for themselves, I hope, as gentlemen. But I would be astonished if the Brits let it prevent them from regaining their independence.

Posted by Abu Uluque 2019-09-07 18:18|| 2019-09-07 18:18|| Front Page Top

#8 Suddenly the EU is super serious about solid borders.

Posted by swksvolFF 2019-09-07 19:03|| 2019-09-07 19:03|| Front Page Top

#9 This means that customs controls, product origin, quality controls and veterinary inspections of livestock must be carried out automatically.

What if the Irish Republic continues to agree - in principle - but refuses to observe these requirements in practice?

Will the EU then punish Ireland? Careful: the English could tell you a thing or two about how the Irish respond when their back's to the wall. (They aren't called "fighting Irish" for nothing.)

In all seriousness, why is this such a big issue? Friendly neighbors dispense with petty customs requirements all the time. In reality, nothing - absolutely nothing - has changed with regard to English products' ability to meet or surpass "product origin, quality controls and veterinary inspections of livestock."

Do you really believe that Orish consumers are risking ha if Ireland does not "automatically" start performing redundant and ridiculous inspections that is has not been performing since the Good Friday accords?

Really?

The fact that you harp on such a redundant, unnecessary bureaucratic standard in the face of a perfectly acceptable reality is a perfect example of why the EU is such a heavy-handed and oppressive joke.

Posted by Lex 2019-09-07 22:02|| 2019-09-07 22:02|| Front Page Top

#10 *Irish ['twas not a slur against Oiri- er, Irish brogue, honest.
*are risking harm

Posted by Lex 2019-09-07 22:03|| 2019-09-07 22:03|| Front Page Top

#11 EC, the essence of this argument is that many of the world's political problems are perfectly solvable through non-legal, non-bureaucratic means.

Not every issue involving social, commercial etc relations between civilized peoples requires 500 pages of legal code and armies of judges and trade etc legal specialists for it to be resolved in a workable manner.

What you are failing to see, in your (in my view) extreme attachment to bureaucratic trade law mechanisms, is that Brexit is ultimately about CILTURE, not trade.

The Anglo-American tradition of common law - and the English way of government ever since 1689 - is above all NON-BUREAUCRATIC, pragmatic, and reasonable.

The Napoleonic system never took hold in our culture.

The accession of the U.K. into the EU is a mortal threat to the foundational values embedded in those core traditions of Parliamentary sovereignty and common law. The people rule: not bureaucrats, not trade lawyers, not "human rights lawyers," not Eurocrats. No: the people - the British people shall rule Britain.

This is not about trade. If Britain were to continue sliding into the morass of rule-by-Eurocrat & EU legalisms, then Britain would cease to be Britain. A 300 year-old tradition - arguably the greatest (or 2nd-greatest, after the American) political tradition on earth - would disappear.

Is that worth saving £8,000 on a BMW?

Don't you find it ironic that Europeans whose forbears bitterly criticized Albion as "a nation of shopkeepers" are now asking the British to act like ... grubby greedy shopkeepers?

Posted by Lex 2019-09-07 22:18|| 2019-09-07 22:18|| Front Page Top

#12 It's quite surprising that you see the EU as "not about trade".

I will reply in the next article about the EU as rollover is near

Posted by European Conservative 2019-09-07 22:56|| 2019-09-07 22:56|| Front Page Top

#13 Yes the EU is largely about trade, and secondarily about preventing a reprise of European militarism and aggressive national expansion.

No the great democracy that is Britain is NOT about trade.

Brexit will temporarily hurt British trade.
Brexit will restore British parliamentary sovereignty, and restore the sense of meaningful difference to British citizenship.

Posted by Lex 2019-09-07 23:01|| 2019-09-07 23:01|| Front Page Top

#14 Parliamentary sovereignty has never been in doubt.

Quite the contrary. Outside the EU the UK will still have to follow (most) EU rules if it wants to trade, but it will have no influence on the rules anymore.

Posted by European Conservative 2019-09-07 23:07|| 2019-09-07 23:07|| Front Page Top

#15 And to call the British government "non bureaucratic" is almost hilarious.

Posted by European Conservative 2019-09-07 23:08|| 2019-09-07 23:08|| Front Page Top

14:34 Frank G
14:28 Melancholic
14:27 NoMoreBS
14:14 swksvolFF
14:12 swksvolFF
13:54 mossomo
13:51 mossomo
13:50 NoMoreBS
13:50 Abu Uluque
13:44 Abu Uluque
13:41 NoMoreBS
13:39 Abu Uluque
13:36 mossomo
13:36 swksvolFF
13:32 mossomo
13:26 Frank G
13:12 Regular joe
13:12 mossomo
13:11 swksvolFF
13:08 Abu Uluque
13:00 swksvolFF
12:59 Regular joe
12:55 Skidmark
12:53 Skidmark