SNP MEPs And The EU Gravy Train, SNP MEP Alyn Smith thinks the opinion of ECJ Advocate General Manuel Campos Sanchez-Bordona saying the UK can revoke Article 50 unilaterally equals a huge win for the Remain side, the delusion is laughable, the exit clock is still ticking down, the EU will lose the British ‘cash cow’ and Smith will be losing his job

Dear All

Here is a laugh, which isn’t so funny, according to European Court of Justice Advocate General Manuel Campos Sanchez-Bordona, the UK can unilaterally revoke its withdrawal from the EU.

This is his opinion, an opinion which can be ignored by the UK government and will be.

The last laugh of course is that the UK will not be revoking its withdrawal from the EU; we are too far down the road to turn back. The Conservative Party has no interest in political suicide, which is the bottom line here, the government said they would honour the result of the referendum vote, and they will be judged on that commitment.

What this case brought by malcontents means is absolutely nothing although what did European Court of Justice Advocate General Manuel Campos Sanchez-Bordona mean by ‘the UK’, did he mean the House of Commons or did he mean the government?

This intervention reminds me of how Irish people were tricked out of their democracy by the EU.

 A statement from the ECJ said:

"In answer to the question from the Scottish court, the Advocate General proposes that the Court of Justice should, in its future judgment, declare that Article 50 TEU allows the unilateral revocation of the notification of the intention to withdraw from the EU, until such time as the Withdrawal Agreement is formally concluded, provided that the revocation has been decided upon in accordance with the member state's constitutional requirements, is formally notified to the European Council and does not involve an abusive practice.”

One of the people who brought the case is SNP MEP Alyn Smith, who has never accepted that he is going to be unemployed in the very near future, ripped out of his cosy EU bubble.

He said:

"This is a huge win for us, and a huge step forward from the highest court in the business, and confirms what we have been hoping for: that the UK can indeed change its mind on Brexit and revoke Article 50, unilaterally.

Actually, it isn’t a huge win, and it isn’t a win, because the UK Government is still going ahead with Brexit.

Smith added:

“This is big news. Now, while Westminster is debating legal advice, just how much public money has the UK government blown *trying to stop* this being known? The Advocate General Opinion is not the final judgment, but the practice of the ECJ is that the judges tend to follow the Opinion, so this is a major landmark. We now have a roadmap out of the Brexit shambles, a bright light has switched on above an 'Exit' sign and the false choice being offered to MPs at Westminster - that it is Mrs May's disastrous deal or chaos - is shown for what it is, an abuse of Parliament. There are other options, and we can stop the clock.”

What a pity for him that the UK public wouldn’t accept ‘stopping the clock’, and the Conservatives know the only timetable is to get out of the doomed EU project. What this court case highlights is how politicians don’t represent us.

Yesterday in my post on the ‘yellow vests’, this is a feeling that has gained real traction across Europe. There is a change in the mentality of people towards politicians, from public servants they are now being seen as public enemies. The treatment that Macron of France gets in public is a sure sign that the trust has broken with the political class.

What will emerge is new parties of the right, who will exclude the type of people who brought Europe to its knees. You could see political revolution in Europe and new parties emerging which put the people first and safeguard the national interest.

Conservative former attorney general Dominic Grieve said of the development:

"It's clearly significant. Of course it doesn't necessarily have to be translated into a judgment, but the opinion of the advocate general is often very influential in forming the opinion of the court and it reinforces something I have to say I personally always thought was probably the case.”

To reassure you that nothing has happened of significance by the remain side, Advocate General for Scotland Lord Keen QC, representing the UK Government, said the case is a "hypothetical validity challenge" and those behind it seek "political ammunition to be used in and to pressure the UK Parliament".

He isn’t worried and neither should you be if you fought for Brexit.

Legal representatives for the UK Government believe the case is inadmissible as it deals with a hypothetical situation; the Government's policy is not to revoke Article 50. You could also chuck in that the EU is forbidden to get involved in country’s internal domestic politics, doesn't this fall squarely into that category? 

Finally, Labour MEP Catherine Stihler is quitting being an MEP to get a job elsewhere; this to me is the real acid test because it is an acceptance of reality something which her fellow Scottish MEPs haven’t grasped yet. The party is over, the good times are over; it is time to pack up their offices and use up their allowances before the trek home. Of course, one would expect that the EU would do anything to keep the British ‘cash cow’ pumping money into the EU budget any judgement by the EJC will be seen as tainted, they have no business sticking their nose into UK domestic politics.

Regardless what they say, the public will take no interest in this bogus case, the UK is taking back its sovereignty on 29 March 2019.

Yours sincerely

George Laird

The Campaign for Human Rights at Glasgow University