A Survation opinion poll in the Daily Mail on the last day of August found that 52% of respondents answered Yes to the question “Do you support a Brexit deal if the EU drops the Northern Ireland Backstop?” So Mrs May’s misnamed Withdrawal Agreement, minus the Protocol on Northern Ireland, could be approved by a majority of the British public.
Mrs May’s misnamed Withdrawal Agreement is the only Brexit deal with the European Union on offer. If that Survation poll is even half true then the British people are in grave danger. Brussels might drop the Backstop in return for the House of Commons voting through the remainder of Mrs May’s Withdrawal Agreement. But Mrs May’s Withdrawal Agreement is treachery and treason from beginning to end, in all its 599 pages, not just in the Backstop.
The Draft Withdrawal Agreement dated 14th November 2018, still online, was replaced by the Withdrawal Agreement & Political Declaration dated 25th November 2018. This 25th November WA&PD was speedily approved by the other 27 countries in the European Council. It is available online, anybody can read it. What follows is a tour into the dark heart of that 25th November Withdrawal Agreement (without any help from the Daily Mail).
Article 131 in the Withdrawal Agreement allows all EU bodies, including the Court of Justice of the EU, to retain their powers over Britain in the transition period of the United Kingdom’s withdrawal. And Article 7 says that the UK will have no voting rights on any EU bodies in the transition period. So the UK government will have no vote or veto in the transition period, against any EU decisions that damage the UK. So you can see that the UK will be at the mercy of the EU in the transition period. But it gets much worse.
Articles 164 to 166 set up a Joint Committee to interpret and apply the Withdrawal Agreement in the Transition Period, which process will include the whole relationship between the EU & UK. Clause 2 of Article 166 says that the decisions of this Joint Committee will be “binding” on the EU & UK. So this Joint Committee will overrule the British government. It will be a dictatorial Junta.
Clause 10 of Annex VIII near the end of the WA’s 599 pages says that “the proceedings of the Joint Committee will be confidential”, in other words private, and not for public knowledge. So the Joint Committee’s members and decisions will be secret.
Our elected government in our Parliament in Westminster will be excluded from any knowledge of, or control over, the UK’s withdrawal in the transition period. Only the UK side of the secret Joint Committee will be left to battle for Britain, if it chooses to. Whatever deal the JC will deliver for Britain is unknown to the Withdrawal Agreement. The WA merely delivers Britain to the dictatorship of this Joint Committee. That is the only deal the WA offers, in the transition period.
And which side will have the upper hand on this Joint Committee, the EU side or the UK side? Considering that, as we will see, the Court of Justice of the European Union will arbitrate disputes on the Joint Committee?
Article 168 (Exclusivity) says that all disputes on the Joint Committee between the EU & UK sides must go exclusively to the Arbitration Panel set up in Articles 167 to 181. But clause 1 of Article 174 says that when a dispute submitted to arbitration raises a question of EU law, then the Court of Justice of the EU will make a decision binding on the Arbitration Panel. That is because the CJEU is the supreme interpreter of Union law, not the Panel.
As the Withdrawal Agreement is a legal document all disputes arising from it can be interpreted as legal disputes subject to the rule of the CJEU. You can be sure that the CJEU will agree with that. Clause 1 of Article 174 makes the rest of the Articles 167 to 181 in Title lll (Dispute Management) utterly redundant, along with their Arbitration Panel.
Article 132 in the 14th November Draft Withdrawal Agreement allowed the Joint Committee to extend the transition period to “31 December 20XX”. So the transition period could be extended to 31st December 2099. That “20XX” clause is not there in the 25th November version of the Withdrawal Agreement, approved by the European Council.
But what if the EU side of the Joint Committee proposes anyway to extend the transition period to 31st December 2099, and the UK side of the JC disputes that? The Court of Justice of the EU will decide who wins that dispute. You can guess which side the CJEU will favour.
The Withdrawal Agreement without the Backstop will not be acceptable to the British Parliament and people, if they know what will still remain in it. But the Survation poll showed that the British people don’t know what is in the Withdrawal Agreement.
This undead Withdrawal Agreement might soon get through Parliament minus its Protocol on Northern Ireland and a few other bits, such as fishing quotas. But if the Articles and clauses mentioned above are still there, then that shortened version of the Withdrawal Agreement will turn Britain into a slave state, ruled by the EU’s Joint Committee.
No Deal and reversion to the terms of trade of the World Trade Organisation will be far better than any amended version of this fatal Agreement. The Agreement is a clear and present danger to our democracy, with or without the Backstop. Mrs May’s mendaciously named Withdrawal Agreement will make Britain subject to a dictatorial Junta in a supposed Transition Period, which can then be extended indefinitely.
Why does Boris keep harping on about the possibility of making changes to the WA? The WA is dead! Dead means dead! What we need and must have is a clean break from the EU and exit on WTO Terms. Once we have left we can negotiate future cooperation and trade deals
Boris Johnson keeps harping on about dropping the Backstop from the misnamed Withdrawal Agreement because he hasn’t bothered to read through its 599 pages. After all, he voted for the WA along with Dominic Raab and Jacob Rees-Mogg, the third time Theresa May tried to get it through the House of Commons. Let’s hope Richard Braine knows what’s in the WA, especially clause 2 of Article 166, Article 172 and clause 10 of Annex VIII.
I very much hope Richard Braine will talk about the “WA” (newspeak for Suicide Surrender Treaty), and these threats to civil liberties, at the party conference in Newport this month.
See the straightforward and unequivocal website: standup4brexit.com in which 46 MPs – including Boris Johnson – pledged in June 2019 that May’s treaty should be seen as ‘dead’. The wording:
”In June 2019 we started a fresh pledge, which, in addition, asks MPs to commit to leaving the EU on 31st October and abandoning Theresa May’s Withdrawal Agreement as dead.”
Perhaps someone should remind Mr Johnson of it.
https://campaignforanindependentbritain.org.uk/the-draft-withdrawal-agreement-threatens-our-civil-liberties/
https://www.brugesgroup.com/blog/eu-militia-on-british-streets
https://brexitcentral.com/theresa-mays-successor-should-not-allow-the-uk-to-be-entangled-in-eu-legal-defence-and-security-projects/
Seems as though the Vassalage Treaty is coming back again for another vote as Kinnock’s amendment snuck it in past the tellers.
Good news however is that the Lords have now tabled 102 amendments to the Benn Bill when it arrives tomorrow so can filibuster it till the cows come home with the prorogation ruled valid.
Correction: 102 amendments to a motion trying to stop the Benn bill from being filibustered! Poetic justice.
It is hard for me to imagine how any MP with self respect could support any of the WA at all . They have to be terminally ignorant or just lobby fodder. We do not really expect the little girls and boys of labour to even try. They would rather simper. But their elders and betters should have given them some help.. Otherwise labour is a nothing.
18.14 Wednesday BBC Parliament True Brexiteer backbench Tories are tearing into the so called stop no deal Bill. Thank goodness.
We will end up with bloodshed before long
When I started scrolling through Mrs May’s misnamed Withdrawal Agreement last year I was amazed by what I eventually discovered. Its title is a total lie, the exact opposite of what it is. What is also amazing is that none of the mainstream media, such as the Sun, the Express or the Telegraph, have exposed the future Joint Committee junta that is lurking in this misnamed Withdrawal Agreement. (As far as I know). It is as though censorship forbids any mention of clause 2 of Article 166, or clause 10 of Annex VIII…. What’s going on?
When words like traitor, Quisling and 5th columnists are being used it is now clear that it is not just rhetoric but a clear description of our enemies within. I would say to any remainer, look honestly into your heart and truthfully confirm that you believe that all that’s going on is justified because you believe that a ‘no deal ‘ Brexit is somehow bad for trade and no more.
Contrary to what Remainers say, a No Deal Brexit from the EU would be good for Britain’s trade because we would be free of the red tape of a “close regulatory alignment” with the EU Customs Union and its tariffs. And it would revive our democracy also, as our elected leaders would no longer have to pass off the initiatives of unelected EU Commissioners in Brussels as their own. For instance the HS2 rail link does not come from Whitehall or Westminster at all. It comes from the EU’s Trans European Networks project, planned by Jacques Delors, then president of EU Commission, in the 1990’s.
This is the article which should be sent to all “remainer” MP’s .
I agree it should be sent to all Remainer MPs. I’ve often wanted to do that but how can it be made compulsory reading.
Thank you for the summary. If Boris shows any further intent to accept it, or any part of it, then it will be reason for a revolution to remove him and those in government who support it. I’m sure that is not what any of us want but neither did our forebears want the last war against Germany and allies(now the EU) but it was necessary.
I really hope the EU keep refusing to remove the Backstop as the lemmings will rush straight off the cliff. The Vassalage Treaty is worse than Remain.
Boris get us out on WTO terms on or before the 31st Oct or the puppy gets it! (not really it’s too adorable)
Timely reminder – WA is nothing more than a revolving door mechanism to smoothly take us back into the EU at some point in the near future.
Jake, the mis-named WA is not an agreement, it is a legally binding treaty and as such, we will certainly never be allowed to leave the EU at all.