United Kingdom’s Withdrawal from the European Union
Neil O'Brien Excerpts(5 years, 4 months ago)
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Nick Thomas-Symonds (Torfaen) (Lab)
Members of this House secured a proper meaningful vote for a purpose. It was so that this House would be able to make an informed judgment on the future of our whole country. The point was to know not only the terms of the withdrawal but what the future relationship would look like—a future relationship that would shape our economy and our constituents’ jobs and livelihoods for decades to come. To consider those two things together is vital; it is what this House should rightly expect, and what has always been promised, because it is central to the whole process.
Article 50 itself says:
“the Union shall negotiate and conclude an agreement with that State, setting out the arrangements for its withdrawal, taking account of the framework for its future relationship with the Union.”
If we look at the withdrawal agreement, article 184 specifically refers to the political declaration and even identifies the particular document.
In their letter to the Prime Minister of 14 January, Presidents Juncker and Tusk said this:
“As for the link between the Withdrawal Agreement and the Political Declaration, to which you make reference in your letter, it can be made clear that these two documents, while being of a different nature, are part of the same negotiated package. In order to underline the close relationship between the two texts, they can be published side by side in the Official Journal in a manner reflecting the link between the two as provided for in Article 50”.
It is also what the Prime Minister herself has always said. On “Sophy Ridge” on 21 November last year, this was her view:
“we agreed the withdrawal agreement in principle last week, the withdrawal agreement goes alongside the future relationship, it’s the future relationship that actually delivers, if you like, on people’s concerns in the withdrawal agreement.”
Nick Thomas-Symonds
I will give way in a moment. I will just finish this part of my speech.
The Prime Minister continued:
“Getting that future relationship right is necessary but nothing’s agreed until everything is agreed.”
She is not known for her flexibility, so, unsurprisingly, on 14 January in the House, she said again:
“the link between them means that the commitments of one cannot be banked without the commitments of the other.”
Withdrawal Agreement: Legal Advice
Neil O'Brien Excerpts(5 years, 8 months ago)
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The Solicitor General
I think the hon. Lady was reading out the words of the motion, which were not the words adopted by the right hon. and learned Member for Holborn and St Pancras (Keir Starmer). He confined himself to a particular document that he wanted to see. Those are the terms of reference that he sought, and it does nobody any good to try to go back on what he said. A statement on the Government’s legal position will be published on Monday, so it will not just be the Attorney General’s words given here orally. Right hon. and hon. Members will have something in writing as well.
Neil O’Brien (Harborough) (Con)
Does the Solicitor General agree that if Members have important questions about the Government’s legal advice or the legal position, they will be able to find out the answers to those questions by asking the source of the Government’s legal advice—the Attorney General—in this House? Does he further agree that this is about a very important constitutional principle? If all 6,500 pieces of legal advice are published, all official advice, not just legal, will start to be published and we will have a situation in which candid advice will no longer be given. It will not be written down and, whoever is in government, we will not have proper functioning of Government.
The Solicitor General
My hon. Friend is absolutely right to say that if Law Officers, and indeed civil servants, cannot provide candid advice in an unencumbered way, the quality of decision making will deteriorate, as will its transparency. That is deleterious to good government.