By Ali Babaei  

Analyze of second referendum and the issue of British exit from The EU in aspect of British law

July 23, 2019 - 12:16

The separation of Britain from the European Union is an important controversy for Britain, Europe and the whole world, which will have important legal, political and economic consequences if it is realized. The United Kingdom held a referendum in 2016 in which people voted to leave UK from the European Union, and the British government took some time to negotiate with Europe and take the necessary measures to exit from the union, until March 29, 2017, and, In the event of a delay, it will eventually complete until March 31, 2019, but so far it has not happened. Clearly, the exit from the European Union, will has serious impacts on Britain, and so far, although Britain has passed the time-limit, did not exit the union.  UK may have a new referendum on this issue.  Holding of a new referendum is an important debate, firstly, is it a legal referendum? Secondly, is it democratic? Thirdly, what should be done in the event of a conflict between the outcomes of the two legal proceedings?

1- Introduction

BREXIT, which stands for the term of British exit from the European Union or the separation of the England from EU 

which is a scheme followed by some lawyers, politicians, businessmen and, in general, supporters of the British exit from the European Union from long ago.
 
From a historical point of view, from the beginning of the British membership in the European Economic Community in January 1973 and the accession to the European Union in 1993, opponents of the issue of British membership in the European Union have always challenged it and tried to withdraw from the European Union, finally They have focused on debating a referendum in late 2015.

Following a referendum on June 23, 2016, Britain had set up an exit program from union of Europe.  In the referendum, 51.89% of the votes, I mean 17.410, 742 votes against 48.11%, 16, 141, 241 votes, cast a vote on the British withdrawal from the European Union.

But the referendum was not in itself obligatory, and only the parliament could have made the referendum necessarily executive for the government, Indeed, due to the concerns of both groups of supporters and opponents of the exit from the European Union from the vagueness of the outcome of the referendum for the two groups, and the importance of this issue for the government, the opinion of the scholars led the referendum to be subject to parliamentary approval.

Now, after a few years after referendum and even the pass of time-limit for leaving the European Union negotiations between Britain and the European Union remain, Britain remains in the European Union, because in fact the issue of separation from the European Union It is a very important debate that will have many consequences for England, the European Union, and the whole world which will be discussed further.

2- Historical Review

After World War II, many European countries dreamed united Europe benefits, finally, an agreement achieved and the European Union was established.

The United Kingdom's approach to the European Union was not originally intended to be part of a united Europe which governed by a federation, with unique money and a common parliament. 

The British attitudes at that time were that England had never been occupied in contemporary times and had always been strongly independent in their domestic and foreign politics, and transfer of British national sovereignty to a transnational entity at that time was neither desirable nor necessary for England. 

Later, the United Kingdom realized that it would not be able to meet its demands independently of Europe, and, as far as possible, it intended to play a leading role in Europe, particularly in the field of commerce, and also intended to play a significant role in relations between Europe and the United States, Britain desire a context which relationship between the two sides of the United States and Europe needs England.

To this end, the Conservative Party of England, on July 31, 1961, called for membership of the European Economic Community, which was faced with French opposition,  and in 1967 a similar request was made by Britain, which France vetoed and after attempts of London, Britain was able to became a member of the European Economic Community, On January 1, 1973 and with the creation of the European Union in 1993, the United Kingdom became a member of the European Union. 

During its membership in the European Union, the United Kingdom has consistently pursued its political agenda. For example, Britain did not enter into use of the euro or protested about the right to strike in the EU constitution, and now it is in the process of staying in or leaving the European Union.

3- The Consequences of British Exit from the European Union

Here are some of consequences.

 A. The difficulty of the British people for travel in the green continent

According to the Guardian, the British will have to send their application and pay fee to travel in Europe, after leaving the European Union to.

The European Commission intends to establish a plan for travel in the Green Continent on the late of this year. The plan has been created in response to recent terrorist attacks in Belgium and France, and to improve Europe's security, and will be implemented in the case of the British when they leave the European Union.

The plan covers all trips to the European Union and member countries. According to this plan, travelers who do not require a full visa must register 72 hours before traveling and pay fee of 10 EUR.

As long as the British are members of the European Union, although Britain is not a member of Schengen, they can travel freely in the European Union with their passports, but they must sign up for transit through the United States, because they are not members of the Schengen Convention. 

In 2018, British citizens had thirty million trips to other EU countries, which, if BREXIT happens, travel in EU will be a little difficult for them. 

B-Scientific difficulties

Can the British government, after leaving the European Union, replace the budget received from the union in the field of research? It is budget of $ 1.2 billion and 10 percent of its government funding for scientific research. Eliminating this budget, after the separation of Britain from the European Union, has created a wave of fear among British scholars and researchers.

UK research is nowadays global, with a high level of competition and a high cost, partly funded by the European Union. Staying at the European Consortium has helped England to be the first among the countries of the continent in the field of science.

Most British universities use foreign professors and most of them come from European countries. Meanwhile, many M.S. and Ph.D. students from other European countries easily travel to the UK, and as mentioned earlier, travel restrictions in case of UK separation from the European Union on this issue have also affected this situation.

C- The probability of Scotland's Independence from Britain

 According to France-Press, Scotland's First Minister Nicola Sturgeon initiated a new consultation in support of Scotland's independence from England and announced that England's withdrawal from the EU threatened the Scottish interests.

While 52% of the British people voted to leave the country from the European Union, 62% of the Scottish people wanted to stay in the European Union, where the controversy and benefits of leaving the European Union are well seen in the UK and Scotland. 

Sturgeon has said "the option for a new referendum on independence from the UK, after the 2014 referendum, remains "on the table."

In a lecture of Sterling, at the William Wallace Memorial Site, is said that "the Scottish Independence Symbol, who defeated English troops in 1297, declared that Scottish interests were threatened. He added not only BREXIT lead to the departure of Scotland from the European Union, but also removes Scotland from the united market", and continued: "I do not want to stand here and watch without fighting."

Other consequences of British withdrawal from the European Union include the shrinking British market and economy, the loss of the role that Britain currently plays between the EU and the United States on many issues, the weakening of Britain in the world and even the UN Security Council and the  issue of Northern Ireland about independence from Britain following the Scottish Independence Initiative, is particularly well-known for the desire of Northern Ireland to remain in the European Union and even to join the South.

BREXIT Agreement draft has some ambiguity about the boundary between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. Northern Ireland is a part of the UK, and the Republic of Ireland, is an independent state and a member of the European Union.

Northern Ireland's Democratic Party has voiced doubts over the British Prime Minister's proposal. Theresa May, needed votes of the mentioned party to approve the plan in parliament. The British House of Commons has a total of 650 seats, and Theresa needed 318 votes to confirm his agreement.

Because it's not the purpose of this article to address all of the BEREXIT's consequences, we only mentioned some in the above, although we know the consequences are beyond these, and we just wanted to discuss them in order to the reader's mind find the question of why the British exits is so much challenging for the government of the country that hold a another referendum and it is rational, legal, political and economic acceptable.

In the probable options due to the expiration of the maximum time limit for withdrawal from the union on March 19, 2019, as well as the rejection of the Teresa Plan for withdrawal, are existing from EU under the Article 50 of the Exit Agreement, or the withdrawal with the duration and necessary agreements with Europe or according to the same rule, the rejection of the first referendum and the implementation of re-referendum.

The International Bar Association also warned about the departure of the UK from the European Union and its Human Rights Commission. 

4. Re-referendum

British parliamentarians disputed another referendum on March 23, 2013, but now the possibility of holding a new referendum is again in place.

The British Parliament voted no, on March 22, 2012, for a British withdrawal from the European Union without the consent of the union, proposed by Theresa May. The vote was one day after the parliament rejected the agreement of the government of Teresa May, British prime minister of the mentioned time, with the European Union to leave.

British Labor Party leader Jeremy Corbin, on Sunday, March 23, again said that while many individuals and groups in Britain are in favor of another referendum on BREXIT, he does not agree with the second referendum, according to Doucheville, UK Labor Party leader Jeremy Corbin.

A few months after the referendum on BREXIT, talks began on March 29, 2017 (April 9, 1396) to launch the "Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty", which defines the rules for the departure of a member of the European Union, but so far the departure of Britain from the European Union It is a possibility.

Teresa hard opposed the implementation of another referendum on the departure of Britain from the European Union, which failed, her plan was not accepted in parliament and she was forced to resign.

In Britain's law, parliament members, examine every request that is signed by 100,000. On the implementation of the referendum on BREXIT, in September 2017, four million British citizens requested a referendum on the issue of BREXIT.

There is a legal commission on this issue in the UK, but it can not give parliamentary members the authority to issue a new referendum, but a review of this issue in the commission show that disputes over exit from the EU still exist in the UK.

Theresa, the prime minister of the UK at that time, introduced changes to the law of BREXIT to the parliament, according to which the Parliament could decide on a second referendum on BREXIT.

She suggested the "last chance" to approve BREXIT and said:

“The new plan of the government responds to opposition concerns about workers' rights, trade agreements, the European Union's customs union and environmental issues, and the British Parliament can also vote on the second referendum on BREXIT.”

She continued: "I do not believe that we should have a new referendum, but it would be better to implement the results of the first referendum, but the thesis of some to restart the referendum on BREXIT is on the table and for this reason, to re-open the referendum on the new government plan is inserted. I will pay attention to the members who want to hold a second referendum, they must vote on the new plan. It is essential to implement the results of the referendum. We must think about a solution, and this is our last chance. "

Under British law, if the government and parliament hold a re-referendum on BREXIT, the outcome of the second referendum will come into force, but many have argued whether it would be possible to implement a re-referendum and, in general is it democratic?

Different views have been expressed on this subject. There are examples of reprinting in Europe, most notably Irish re-vote on the approval and acceptance of the Lisbon Treaty in 2009, Ireland's re-vote on the adoption of the Nice Treaty in 2002,  and the rejection of the Maastricht Treaty in 1992 in Denmark.

Nicholas Barr says:

"The second referendum is a non-democratic one and there are no democratic reasons because government does not think people of the society are right when they do not want to what the government wants, and government will vote again and vote again to reach their goal."  

He continues that, as Bertolt Burt Mihjusselli stated about the 1953 re-referendum on the uprising of the East German people, the government will dissolve their votes and hold a referendum once they lose their confidence in the people's vote.
In contrast, proponents who support second referendum, believe that will vote of people will be effective again.

5- Conclusion

According to what has been said and overlooked, the UK will face major economic, political, border and even military challenges if it leaves the European Union. The young British population has many concerns about wages, employment, education, and even travel in the European Union if BREXIT occur.

The independent of Scotland and southern Ireland from England would leave a small population, and a small country for Britain, which would have a 100 percent decline in the United Kingdom status in the world.

Considering the importance of the recent issue and recent situations in Britain, it is possible to hold another referendum in the UK, and although some people consider it undemocratic and consider first votes ineffective, and it would be legal if it was accepted by the government and parliament, and the second referendum result is executive.


 

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