Parliamentary sovereignty – Brexit
Brexit and beyond
European Union Referendum Act 2015
o 53% v 48%
Was it a restoration of ‘sovereignty’?
What was the impact on parliament?
The leave campaign and ‘taking back control’…
Supranational institutions as strong as those created by the EU sit very uneasily in relation to our
political history and way of life’ – PM Theresa May, Lancaster House Speech, Jan 2017
‘At the heart of that historic decision was sovereignty…. The UK Parliament will unquestionably be
sovereign again’ - DExEU SoS David Davis, Cm 9446, March 2017
Misunderstanding of reconciliation pf parliamentary sovereignty and EU
supremacy.
- Whilst Parliament has remained sovereign throughout our membership of the EU, it has
not always felt like that’. - Brexit White Paper, Cm 9417, Feb 2017, Para 2.1
If parliament was always sovereign, but what that meant had simply changed, what was
there to restore?
Delivering EU exit:
-Withdrawal NEGOTIATIONS started by EU (Notifications of Withdrawal ) Act 2017
ECA 1972 REPEALED by EU (Withdrawal) Act 2018, s.1
Effects of ECA 1972 temporarily ‘SAVED’ until the end of the transition (31 Dec 2020)
by EU (Withdrawal Agreement) Act 2020, s.1
Brexit and beyond
European Union Referendum Act 2015
o 53% v 48%
Was it a restoration of ‘sovereignty’?
What was the impact on parliament?
The leave campaign and ‘taking back control’…
Supranational institutions as strong as those created by the EU sit very uneasily in relation to our
political history and way of life’ – PM Theresa May, Lancaster House Speech, Jan 2017
‘At the heart of that historic decision was sovereignty…. The UK Parliament will unquestionably be
sovereign again’ - DExEU SoS David Davis, Cm 9446, March 2017
Misunderstanding of reconciliation pf parliamentary sovereignty and EU
supremacy.
- Whilst Parliament has remained sovereign throughout our membership of the EU, it has
not always felt like that’. - Brexit White Paper, Cm 9417, Feb 2017, Para 2.1
If parliament was always sovereign, but what that meant had simply changed, what was
there to restore?
Delivering EU exit:
-Withdrawal NEGOTIATIONS started by EU (Notifications of Withdrawal ) Act 2017
ECA 1972 REPEALED by EU (Withdrawal) Act 2018, s.1
Effects of ECA 1972 temporarily ‘SAVED’ until the end of the transition (31 Dec 2020)
by EU (Withdrawal Agreement) Act 2020, s.1
