THE UK Supreme Court yesterday rejected an attempt by the UK government to prevent the European Court of Justice (ECJ) judges hearing a legal challenge to Brexit. The ECJ is now to examine, on 27 November, whether the UK parliament can unilaterally revoke Article 50 without the consent of the other 27 EU nations.
The case was brought by Scottish Green MSPs Andy Wightman and Ross Greer, Labour MEPs David Martin and Catherine Stihler, and SNP MEP Alyn Smith. Wightman said: ‘The question as to whether the UK Parliament can unilaterally revoke Article 50 is becoming more relevant as the chaos around Brexit shows no sign of being resolved.’ Yesterday, the Supreme Court said the Court of Session’s ruling was ‘preliminary’, and it would still have to reach a judgement on the matter after the European Court has given guidance.
If the ECJ guides ‘yes’ then the UK Supreme Court will be able to give a judgement that will ignite an anti-Brexit counter-revolution to consign the decision of the 2016 Referendum to leave the EU into the dustbin, via a parliamentary coup! There is little doubt that such a situation would place the UK on the brink of a social revolution by bringing millions onto the streets.
SNP leader Sturgeon, who has already proposed a common front with the Corbyn-led Labour Party to scupper Brexit, was in London yesterday to meet first with PM May and then with opposition leaders, no doubt to discuss the plot to smash Brexit. Sturgeon said ahead of her visit that her aim is to discuss a ‘workable alternative’ to May’s negotiated settlement with the EU. She said: ‘It mustn’t be an option between frying pan or fire – but it is now incumbent on all of us who oppose that false choice to propose a workable alternative.’
In fact, there was talk at the TUC Congress by right-wing trade union leaders that trade unions might take strike action to stop Brexit. Some TUC leaders – who have not organised a single strike against the Tory government’s austerity – are keen to strike against the 2016 Referendum result to stay in the EU.
Labour leader Corbyn will now have to make up his mind whether he will be a party to the move to smash Brexit, rip up the referendum result and stay in the crisis-ridden EU. Corbyn told the CBI conference on Monday: ‘The Prime Minister has negotiated a botched, worst-of-all-worlds’ deal which is bad for Britain, leaving the country in an indefinite halfway house without a real say.
‘The Withdrawal Agreement breaches Theresa May’s own red lines and doesn’t deliver the strong economic settlement the country needs to support jobs and industry . . .
‘Labour will vote against the government’s deal and if the government cannot get its central policy through Parliament, then we will demand a General Election. But if we cannot secure a General Election, then we have been clear that all options must remain on the table, including a public vote.’ He was referring to the notorious second referendum.
He continued: ‘And if the transition period can’t be extended, Britain will be locked into a backstop from which it cannot leave without the agreement of the EU, with no time limit or end point and no say for Britain, sowing the seeds of a backlash in years to come.’
He added: ‘But the Prime Minister knows that No Deal isn’t a real option. Neither the cabinet nor Parliament would endorse such an extreme and frankly dangerous course.
‘Labour will not countenance a No Deal Brexit . . . First, we want a new comprehensive and permanent customs union . . . Second, a sensible deal must guarantee a strong single market relationship.’
Labour under Corbyn will correctly vote against May’s plan for the UK to be a vassal state of the EU, but in favour of remaining a full member of the EU, which at one time he sought to reform but which is now on the brink of organising a European army! However for PM May all is not lost, as Corbyn’s main trade union supporter, Unite’s Len McCluskey, made clear yesterday in a public message to her.
He wrote in the Huffington Post urging May to act as a ‘national leader and not as a party manager’. He added: ‘If the prime minister would only stop listening to the hard-line rump on her own backbenches, she would realise that there is a different deal available. That it is perfectly possible to secure a natural majority in parliament for leaving the European Union, as the British people mandated in June 2016 but in a way that unites the nation.
‘She needs to reach out to Jeremy Corbyn and forget about Jacob Rees-Mogg and her disloyal cabinet. She needs to actually listen to trade union concerns, rather than pretending to do so. Jeremy Corbyn extended the possibility of agreement in his party conference speech in September. Now is the time to take up the offer. In short, Mrs May needs to act as a national leader and not as a party manager.’
McCluskey is appealing for a Labour-led national government that will remain in the EU. In fact, the tactics of the EU leaders have made it crystal clear that ‘No Deal’ is the only way out of the EU prison house. Corbyn’s Labour has an opportunity to lead the UK working class out of the EU, and then to expropriate the bosses and bankers to bring in socialism. Otherwise he will end up as another Ramsay MacDonald!
