YP Letters: Brexiteers, just be careful what you wish for...

From: John Cole, Oakroyd Terrace, Baildon, Shipley.
Anti-Brexit campaign group, The No 10 Vigil, travel in a boat up the Thames.Anti-Brexit campaign group, The No 10 Vigil, travel in a boat up the Thames.
Anti-Brexit campaign group, The No 10 Vigil, travel in a boat up the Thames.

IT is a mistake to confuse power with influence, and by the same token, to confuse sovereignty with power. A main battle-cry of the Brexiteers was that the UK needed to “take back control”. This resonated with a large slice of the electorate who in consequence voted 52:48 to leave the European Union.

However, the Government’s own white paper on triggering Article 50 admitted: “The sovereignty of Parliament is a fundamental principle of our UK constitution...Parliament has remained sovereign throughout our membership of the EU.”

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

So, if we were to continue this crazy course to leave the EU there would be no gain in repatriated sovereignty since we never handed it over in the first place.

Our leaving the EU would, however, diminish our status and influence within Europe.

As a member of the EU the UK has been one of the “big hitters” and has achieved much in helping to formulate policy. Until recently governments and companies from outside Europe (for example, USA and Japan) have found it useful to approach the EU via the UK.

Additionally this has helped with foreign investment into the UK Brexiteers should note the old warning – “Be careful what you wish for”.