The European Scrutiny Committee has effectively backed 88% of the British people who wanted a say on the Lisbon Treaty and who have questioned, on grounds of democracy and law, how the Lisbon Treaty could ever have been enforced in this country without their consent. How can Britain now sign up to the Treaty, via Westminster’s hastily passed Bill, if that Treaty is to incorporate the ‘Irish Decision’ (guarantees made to the Irish), and the parliamentary Act that has passed the Treaty is now nonsense.
The British Government are wrong to claim that the Irish Decision on the Lisbon Treaty is legally binding, so it is a good to see that a parliamentary committee – the European Scrutiny Committee – is asking for a response on how this is all possible. View this page and this one. There is therefore good reason for the Conservatives to adopt this as part of their policy – we are in a new stage and a new policy is required.
Since the Foreign Secretary has made various claims, relating to the points of the Irish Decision not being an instruction to the European Court of Justice yet at the same time a “legal guarantee” (?) and that the Decision will come into effect in UK law without even being incorporated into our own legislation (?), his arguments have been found to be hollow at every point. The letter from the Scrutiny Committee puts, quite succinctly, seven points showing that the Irish Decision is certainly not part and parcel of the Treaty and needs re-ratification. The legal status of the Decision is not justified – and Members of Parliament are obliged to demand re-ratification as a new Bill is essential.
The European Scrutiny Committee has clearly put the Foreign Secretary on the spot regarding the Lisbon Treaty and the Irish guarantees. Following the cross-examination of David Miliband at the European Scrutiny Committee on 2nd July (see these 2 questions), where the Foreign Secretary clearly could not answer the questions put to him by the Committee on the question of the legal and political nature of the Irish guarantees, the European Scrutiny Committee issued this letter.
David Miliband refused to bring a legal adviser to the Committee on 2nd July and now it will be for the Foreign Secretary and his legal advisers to try to answer these questions put to him in this letter. We are now in a position where we need to demand a re-ratification and a new Bill to follow this in relation to the Lisbon Treaty.
