The Brexit vote was above all a vote to take back control from an unaccountable international body. People were fed up with rules and taxes that we had little influence over, that were then imposed against our wishes and enforced through a foreign political court.
Brexit voters want to see the promise that our votes would be respected and implemented seen through. We still have not taken back control of our fishing grounds, nor of Northern Ireland trade and NI market rules and laws. This is unfinished business that the government needs to get on with.
Meanwhile some parts of the UK establishment, the senior civil service, the courts and the big quangos seem to thrive on the idea that they can still get the UK signed up to international Agreements or Treaties to bind future governments and where necessary to thwart the wishes of UK voters.
It is untrue to say the 2018 Global Compact for Migration signed by Mrs May is another such binding Treaty, as it expressly says it is not legally binding and claims to respect the sovereignty of nations over border matters. It is however part of a wide patchwork of international Agreements and more importantly human rights law which is used by some to make it difficult for the Home Secretary to implement the public wish to see lower migration. The Home Secretary needs to come up with a strengthening of UK migration law to allow us to have sustainable and fair immigration.
Some are similarly seeking to sign us up to as many international agreements under COP 28 as possible. These could then be used to limit UK freedom in making policy in everything from agriculture through transport to energy and industry, despite the fact that the world’s largest CO2 producers like China, Russia and India have not similarly committed. The UK needs to ensure that all the actions we take to cut carbon dioxide output cut the global output at the same time. International Agreements must be signed by those who produce most CO2 as well as by us. Ending up importing more from countries that do not control CO2 in the same way damages our economy whilst failing to tackle the CO2 totals.
An independent country needs to limit the amount of autonomy it signs away. Getting out of the EU is a huge step in the right direction, but we need to watch out for steps back again from a clever world establishment which does not trust the people nor the politicians who want to represent their views. Some in the global Establishment prefer to deal with politicians that they call grown ups, which means politicians who will ignore the public will or mislead the public over what is actually going on and who is in charge.
The most serious sacrifice of sovereignty was to the EU, with its binding legal structure and its own supreme court. Other international Agreements are subject to independent arbitration where there are disputes, and are best where there is a provision to allow a country to leave should circumstances alter.
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