eu and soverignty Flashcards
What is the Supreme Court?
The highest court in the UK political system.
What is judicial neutrality?
The principle that judges should not be influenced by their personal political opinions and should remain outside of party politics.
What is judicial independence?
The principle that judges should not be influenced by other branches of government, particularly the Executive.
What is judicial review?
The power of the judiciary to review, and sometimes reverse, actions by other branches of government that breach the law or that are incompatible with the Human Rights Act.
What is an elective dictatorship?
A government that dominates Parliament, usually due to a large majority, and therefore has few limits on its power.
What is the European Union (EU)?
A political and economic union of a group of European countries.
What are the four freedoms of the EU?
The free movement of goods, services, capital, and people within the EU’s single market.
What is legal sovereignty?
The legal right to exercise sovereignty - i.e. sovereignty in theory.
What is political sovereignty?
The political ability to exercise sovereignty - i.e. sovereignty in practice.
What does ultra vires mean?
Literally ‘beyond the powers’. An action that is taken without legal authority when it requires it.
What are the aims of the EU?
Promoting peace and EU values
Establishing a single European market
Cohesion between member states on economic, social and territorial issues
Creating a monetary union (the euro)
Establishing a border-free zone for freedom, security and justice
Fighting discrimination, promoting equality
EU also has the ‘four freedoms’ across borders in the Single Market
Freedom of movement of goods – Removal of customs and trade barriers. Creates an area with no internal borders so goods can move freely
Freedom of movement of people – Gives EU migrants the right to live and work in any member state without the need for visas
Freedom of movement of services – Allows EU companies to stablish services in other EU countries. Services are vital to the single-market and account for the majority of EU economic activity
Freedom of movement of capital – Removes restrictions on the movement of capital (money) between members.
What is the common fisheries policy
The Common Fisheries Policy (CFP) is an EU policy that grants equal access to the waters of all member states.
It sets quotas and regulations on how many fish of certain species can be caught.
⚖️ Impact on the UK:
The UK had large areas of prime fishing waters, but EU fleets (e.g., from Spain and Portugal) were given access.
This contributed to the decline of the British fishing industry.
Quotas failed to reverse fish stock decline and forced fishermen to discard dead fish, increasing economic hardship.
🇬🇧 Political Significance:
The CFP was a key issue in Brexit, with many arguing for UK control over its waters.
Post-Brexit, the UK sought to regain sovereignty over its fishing rights.
what is the common agricultural policy
📜 What is the CAP?
The Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) is an EU subsidy system aimed at ensuring a stable food supply by purchasing surplus stock when prices fall below a set level.
It protects farmers from cheaper competition and keeps arable land in production.
💶 Financial Impact:
CAP accounts for around 38% of the EU’s budget.
The UK, as the second-largest contributor (after Germany), helped fund CAP but had a relatively small farming industry compared to France, Italy, and Spain.
This led to perceptions that UK taxpayers were subsidising inefficient EU farming.
🍞 Controversies:
Food waste issues, such as the ‘butter mountains’, arose when the EU bought up food stocks that had no demand.
CAP was a major factor in UK Euroscepticism, contributing to Brexit debates.
what is the social chapter
📜 What is the Social Chapter?
The Social Chapter focuses on workers’ rights within the EU.
It includes regulations on working hours, holiday and sick pay, maternity leave, and legal breaks (e.g., a 48-hour workweek limit).
🇬🇧 UK’s Involvement:
The UK initially had an opt-out from the Social Chapter.
In 1997, New Labour brought it into UK law, despite concerns from small and medium British industries about the cost of compliance.
💼 Economic Impact:
Some businesses argue that complying with these regulations made the UK less competitive, leading to outsourcing of jobs to countries like India and China, where employment is cheaper.
⚖️ Cultural and Political Differences:
The UK favours free-market capitalism and a minimal role for the state, while the EU tends to support strong social protections for workers and a larger state role in employment policy.
This created a cultural divide between the UK and other EU member states.
what is the immigration policy
📜 What is the EU Immigration Policy?
Based on the four freedoms, the EU maintains free movement of people, treating citizens of one member state as equal citizens in any other member state they reside.
This allows citizens to live, work, and access services like healthcare in other EU countries.
🇬🇧 UK’s Response and Concerns:
The UK tried to resist free movement, particularly after Romania and Bulgaria joined the EU in 2007, fearing welfare tourism (citizens from poorer EU countries taking advantage of the UK’s welfare system).
Eastern European immigration saw an influx of families settling in the UK, putting pressure on services like schools.
💰 Economic Impact:
Tax contributions from EU immigrants working in the UK were found to far exceed welfare costs.
Research by Professor Christian Dustmann and Dr. Tommaso Frattini in 2016 showed that EU immigrants were less likely to claim benefits and contributed more to the UK economy than native British citizens.
🌍 Free Movement for UK Citizens:
The free movement of people also allowed UK citizens to settle abroad, particularly in Spain and France, especially those retiring there.
⚖️ Political Debate:
This issue contributed to growing resentment in some parts of the UK, but the economic benefits of immigration from the EU were often overlooked in public discourse.
What four conditions are parliamentary sovereignty based on
The absence of a codified constitution – the absence of higher law.
The supremacy of statute law over other forms of law – Acts of Parliament outrank common law, case law, and so on.
The absence of rival legislatures – no other bodies have independent law-making powers.
No Parliament can bind its successors – Parliament cannot make laws that cannot be unmade.
how Is parliament still sovereign due to devolution
The power of Westminster is arguably unaffected by the devolution acts due to legal sovereignty remaining with Parliament.
There is no loss of legal sovereignty because devolution is not the same as federalism and parliament has the ability to repeal the devolution acts, or as in N. Ireland the devolved government can be suspended and parliament regains control over domestic areas
In 1972 the Stormont Parliament was suspended and replaced by rule from Westminster. Since the Good Friday agreement in 1998, the NI Assembly has been suspended 6 times, leaving NI without a functioning government and transferring the running of government back to Westminster and the NI civil service.
In 2023 the government struck down the GRB in Scotland using section 35 of the Scotland Act 2016.
how Is parliament not still sovereign due to devolution
Despite legal sovereignty remaining with parliament, in practice parliament has lost the power essentially permanently as many areas of domestic law are now in the remit of the devolved parliaments. Political sovereignty has moved to the devolved institutions.
NI is a special case based on religious tensions which doesn’t apply to the other devolved regions.
It’s incredibly unlikely that Parliament would attempt to remove devolved institutions – due to the 2016 Scotland Act and 2017 Wales Act Parliament should hold a referendum about reversing devolution settlements, which further limits Westminster’s power. This recognizes that devolution is arguably ‘quasi-federal’ and pressure surrounds greater not less devolution in future.
how is parliament still sovereign due to rights
HRA and CRA do not give the SCOTUK the power to strike down parliamentary legislation.
Parliamentary sovereignty means the SCOTUK cannot strike down statutes and while the Court discusses rights, parliament has the final say determining legislation.
Belmarsh case – indefinite detention of suspected terrorists was incompatible with HRA. However the Home sec didn’t release the suspects until parliament had passed new legislation granting the power to use control orders, tags and other restrictions.
Parliament has the power to repeal the HRA and withdraw from the ECHR.
The Conservative party (as of June 2024) remains committed to repealing the HRA and replacing it with a British Bill of Rights, showing sovereignty and control over rights ultimately lies with parliament
How is parliament not still sovereign due to rights
Parliament is legally sovereign yet it often feels compelled to respond to court decisions regarding the HRA.
In many cases where declarations have been issued, most have resulted in parliament changing the law. For example, after Steinfeld and Keidan v Sec for Int. Development the government altered the law around civil partnerships for opposite sex couples.
how is parliment still soverign due to the eu
Whilst a member of the EU, parliament still had to agree to EU treaty ratification by passing it through the Commons.
Parliament could have chosen to leave the EU at any time. Miller v Sec of state for Exiting the EU showed that parliament had to be the institution to vote to trigger article 50, demonstrating sovereignty.
Parliament only passed certain areas of EU legislative competency. For example this included agriculture and fisheries but most areas of public spending like the NHS, education foreign and defence policy remained unaffected by our membership
In 1986 Parliament passed the Single European Act, which replaced unanimous decision making with QMV (Qualified Majority Voting), and ratified the Lisbon treaty in 2008. Sovereignty was also maintained as the UK remained opted out of the euro and border-free Schengen Zone.
Our sovereignty did not decrease as successive governments agreed to pool it with others, particularly on issues like climate change, which is an international issue and required a collective response from member states, also including the single market, constraining Iran nuclear program which could not have been created/responded to directly by the UK alone.
how is parliament not still sovereign due to the Eu
Where the EU had competency, EU law took precedence.
Factortame (fisheries case) showed that EU law took precedence over UK law when we were a member of the EU.
Increased use of QMV meant the EU was able to impose restrictions on the UK over those areas without the need for UK approval. One example occurred in 2016 when the EU introduced a directive to impose a cap on bankers’ bonuses. The UK government, particularly the Treasury under then-Chancellor George Osborne, strongly opposed this measure. However, despite the UK’s objections, the directive was passed using Qualified Majority Voting (QMV) with the support of other EU member states. This imposition was significant because it directly affected the financial sector in the UK, demonstrating how decisions made through QMV could impact the UK without its explicit approval.
In areas where the EU had competency, like fisheries and trade the UK was unable to set its own policy and had to act in line with the EU.
The Withdrawal Agreement copied over many EU laws into UK law. Recently (June 2023) Badenoch agreed that around 3500 pieces of EU legislation will become UK law rather than being scrapped, the so-called ‘sunset laws’.
how is parliment still soverign due to referendums
Referendums are used to solve constitutional disputes. Referendums are not legally binding and therefore each time have been reliant on the government of the day upholding the result and providing a vote in parliament.
Referendums can only be granted by an act of statute and the result is advisory not legally binding
Several MPs voted against the EU (notification of withdrawal) Act 2017 triggering Article 50. It still passed 331-286.
Parliamentary sovereignty is maintained because parliament has to uphold the votes in a referendum for them to have legitimacy and there is always a possibility that this may not happen. This was reaffirmed in Miller v Sec of State for Leaving the EU where the Court ruled any treaty agreed to by parliament had to be exited in the same way and couldn’t be acted on by the executive alone, despite the referendum result.
