I've had a bit of a hiatus here, but honestly, our government of utter cockwombles is forcing me out of my hole again.
We have three important law officers in the UK - the attorney general, solicitor general and advocate general for Scotland – who are required to ensure that ministers act within the law.
Personally, I think it's a good idea that ministers act within the law, and fortunately I'm not alone in that, because there's such a thing as the Ministerial Code, which defines what ministers should and shouldn't do. This code, astonishingly, was only actually written in 1997. Obviously, up to that point ministers were deemed decent and honourable enough not to need to have these kinds of things written down. The tail end of the Tory administration that ended with Tony Blair's first election in 1997 firmly put paid to that idea. However, back to that code...
In 2010, the wording of the code was that there was an “overarching duty on ministers to comply with the law, including international law and treaty obligations, and to uphold the administration of justice and to protect the integrity of public life”.
Pretty clear, huh?
But, obviously, it's important to maintain wriggle room for ministers to do whatever the hell they want, so under David Cameron's watch, this wording was reduced to an “overarching duty on ministers to comply with the law and to protect the integrity of public life”.
Because we have a variety of people who don't like our government trying to sneak extra powers for themselves, this change was challenged in the courts, on the grounds that it had not been debated in parliament and was illegal. In 2018, the government defeated the case in the court of appeal. But... in that judgment, although finding in the government's favour, the court also found that despite the change in the wording, the “overarching” duty to comply with the law included international law and treaty obligations.
Now, where were we? Oh yes, our three law officers expressing an opinion on what ministers are and aren't allowed to do.
All three officers were unanimous in their view that the UK internal market bill (the one which is aiming to override parts of the Northern Ireland protocol if there is no trade deal with the EU) would amount to a “clear breach” of the withdrawal agreement and international law.
Got that? The three officers whose duty it is to ensure that ministers act within the law are firm that what is proposed is a clear breach of international law.
Only the Scottish advocate general has the balls to say that ministers should be bound by international law and treaties. The advice letter these three noble officers have written states, “It is the opinion of the advocate general for Scotland that the terms of the ministerial code expressly reflect a constitutional convention that ministers shall act in accordance with the rule of law, which in his view includes international law. In his opinion, that includes the obligation under international law to act in good faith with respect to the UK’s treaty obligations."
The craven boot-lickers* representing the English and Welsh arms of the law, however, don't think that the explicit ruling of the court of appeal as to the meaning of "overarching" has any weight. “In contrast, the attorney general and solicitor general are confident that there is a strong legal basis ... which separate the rule of law into its domestic and international spheres. In their view, the reference to ‘law’ in the ministerial code can only be a reference to UK law and UK constitutional principles.”
The court of appeal ruled in 2018 that this was explicitly not the case and that "overarching" includes domestic and international law. And yet here we are.
I have no idea what kind of a stupid game Johnson, Cummings et al are playing with the UK Internal Market Bill, or whether it's just another dead cat, distracting us from their real purpose. But whatever it is they're doing is definitely making us look like utter shit-weasels to the rest of the world. Always a good basis for trying to negotiate new international treaties and trade deals...
* To be fair, I know absolutely nothing about the Solicitor General, but Suella Braverman, Attorney General is a despicable, incompetent, unprofessional, political toady. Think of her as the UK's very own Bill Barr.
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