4.3- the EU and uk government

Question 1

what are the aims of the EU?

Answer 1

• achieving peace and stability
• single market
• economic and monetary union
• political union
• enlargement (treaty of nice)

Question 2

give an example thats suggests the EU is persuiing peace and stability.

Answer 2

2024, EU approves 50bn euro aid package to ukraine
- to do this they persuaded the hungarian pm to drop his veto against the proposal

Question 3

what is an example of a country who has struggled to gain access to the EU?

Answer 3

Turkey applied to the EU in 1987, accession negociations have stalled

Question 4

what is an example of UK legislation that was struck down due to it not complying with EU law?

Answer 4

1990- factortame case- the law lords struck down the merchant shipping act. It broke EU law as is mandated that a ship must have a majority of british fisherman

Question 5

Give an example which shows the potential effects of continued EU membership.

Answer 5

• the EU is in the process of becoming a signatory of the ECHR
• this would mean that the UK (if a part of the EU) would be unable to leave the ECHR
• there were discussions in 2023 of a new ‘british bill of rights’

Question 6

How does part of the UK remain tied to the EU?

Answer 6

• Northern Irelands windsor framework which ensures northern ireland continues to follow EU rules on goods
• this means that any disputes over compliance would be handled by the ECJ

Question 7

what immigration legislation has the UK introduced that it would not have been able to when within the EU?

Answer 7

• the 2023 illegal immigration (rawanda) act
• allows the UK government to set criteria for the removal of illegal immigrants
• set up a scheme to send illegal immmigrants to rawanda

Question 8

Give an example of the UKs attempt to distance itself from EU law. why is it controvercial

Answer 8

• 2023 retained EU law act
• govt promised to ammend/ repeal 4000 pieces of legislation
• 600 EU laws have since been ammended/ repealed
• gives significant power to ministers as changes are made through secondary legislation

Question 9

how many EU laws and articles still apply to Northen Ireland?

Answer 9

• 300

Question 10

What is the supreme court case that upheald parliamentary sovereignty during brexit?

Answer 10

• the miller 1 case: confirmed that a majority in parliament would be needed to trigger article 50

Question 11

what was the conflict between devolved bodies and parliament over brexit and how was it resolved? what was the convention involved?

Answer 11

• scotland and northern ireland had a majority support for remain
• the 2018 (scottish) legal continuity bill - said that scotland had to consent to all legislative changed
• scotland withheld its support for the EU withdrawl act
• the SC argued (under the sewel convention) that the act could be passed without scottish support

Question 12

what are the arguments that the UK leaving the EU has increased sovereignty?

Answer 12

• there is no longer a court that can strike down legislation
• complete control over legislation
• the brexit process arguably affirmed parliamentary sovereignty

Question 13

what was the recent legislation that the UK originally help under the EU but got rid of?

Answer 13

-UK abolished the tapon tax in 2021
- when it was a part of the EU, tampons had a 5% tax as they were considered to be a “luxury good”

Question 14

what are the evative points, that leaving the EU had a limited effect on sovereignty?

Answer 14

• the windsor framework means that the UK can still be heald account by the european court of juctice
• northern ireland means that many EU regulations still apply in the UK
• there are many “roll over” trade deals from the EU
• the retained EU law act is not enitrely effective
• BREXIT lead to conflicts between devolved bodies and calls for independence

Question 15

give an example that suggests issues with the Eurozone (monetary union).

Answer 15

• the PIGS were unable to repay their debts
• they were bailed out and in return forced to implement austerity
• argentina had a much deeper recession due to the unified currency

Question 16

How do you describe EU institutions?

Answer 16

supernational: at a level above that of EU states

Question 17

what is the role of the european commission? how is this different to the European Parliament?

Answer 17

• EC: proposes and implements laws
• EP: adopts, ammends or rejects laws

Question 18

what is the european council?

Answer 18

heads of government of member states, responsible for developing key stratergy

Question 19

what are the key threats to the aims of the EU?

Answer 19

• eurozone has contributed to some antagonism in europe
• the single market is not entirely frictionless due to temporary boarder controls
• many capital elements are nationally managed e.g pensions (friction)
• monetary union is ineffective
• the political union is threatened by euroscepticism

Question 20

when did the uk join the eec

Answer 20

1973 (then 1975 post legislative referendum, basically asking guys was this cool with you, 67 percent were like yh)

Question 21

how was the eu established, from the eec

Answer 21

maastricht treaty 1991

Question 22

what are the four freedoms

Answer 22

the free movement of people, goods, services and capital

Question 23

themes for an essay asking has leaving the eu restored parliamentary sovreignty?

Answer 23

-ecj having jurisdiction over uk (they don’t have jurisdiction e.g. factortame, but they do in NI)

-parliament’s ability to legislate how we want (can make our own trade deals, but this power has gone to executive not parliament)

-the process of brexit itself (has upheld parliamentary sovreignty, but lost pooled sovereignty we had with being in eu)

(intent: it hasn’t given back parliamentary sovreignty)

Question 23

theme 1, on parliamentary sovereignty essay:
ecj having jurisdiction over us

Answer 23

1. there isn’t a court to strike down our laws! ecj no longer has jurisdiction (power to legislate)
   e.g. factortame 1990 (about eu fishing laws whether u needed a quota of british fishermen in uk waters, contra eu law, the law lords ruled the uk is beholden to ecj) is no more,
   a more recent example tampon tax eu law required them to tax it at 5 %
   now, highest court in the land is the sc, and they can’t even strike down uk law (in fact parliament can undo their decisions) so parliament has sovreignty

HOWEVER this isn’t adequate to say parliament is sovereign, in NI ecj has jurisdiction, windsor framework (things that go to NI that could also go to republic of ireland are still beholden to eu regulations)
therefore, disputes over laws about these goods happen in ecj
n.b. regularity is inconsequential, the matter is that we haven’t closed off influence from ecj
(qualifier) stormont brake: ni assembly, if eu changes any trade regulations and this affects ni trade, they can whinge and cry and make a big fuss, poor northern ireland :(

Question 24

theme 2, on parliamentary sovereignty essay: parliament’s ability to legislate on anything

Answer 24

this ability has been restored! can legislate in previously restricted areas, e.g. we have signed three trade deals since leaving eu,
australia, nz, cp transpacific partnership (japan) proposed 2024 -> would have required eu help before
we can make any immigration laws, e.g. rwanda bill 2023
REUL act 2023 -> parliament has ability to jettison retained eu law

HOWEVER this power has really just gone to the executive
REUL act 2023 gives power to change retained eu law by secondary legislation, thus parliament isn’t involved
also only 600 of the 4000 promised have been changed

Question 25

theme 3, on parliamentary sovreignty essay: the process of brexit

Answer 25

all parts of brexit process have shown parliament is sovereign, e.g. miller I showed parliament makes decision to leave, not executive or referendum
devolved parliaments didn’t have the power to veto article 50 (devolved bodies have power without sovreignty), westminster parliamentary sovereignty on top
2018 legal continuity bill: scotland wanted power back that eu had over them, e.g. set tax on tampons below 5%, supreme court decided westminster has this power, and parliament is sovereign over devolved nations

HOWEVER, though parliament did gain sovereignty, it lost the pooled sovereignty over other countries
we never joined shengen agreement or eurozone, our sovreignty was respected and even improved by being part of eu
leaving the eu = that kind of sovreignty is lost