Courtesy of Mish.
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.
