I've always had that vague feeling in my guts that the Benn Surrender Act was seriously flawed - and I think I might have found out why. PLEASE SUPPORT MY YOUTUBE WORK ON PATREON:
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It's funny when something doesn't stack up properly for you and you get that constant nag in your mind that something isn't quite right and that you should therefore keep digging, isn't it?
Well, I've had that feeling about the so called Benn Surrender Act for some time now. So I kept digging and I think I've found the gaping hole.
If there are any qualified lawyers out there who can put me right on this, or put some meat on the bones that Boris Johnson can use, please do chip in.
One thing I have to ask though, is why do some people refer to this Benn Surrender Act as the Benn Dover Act - I'm trying to work out what a Kent town has to do with it.
Anyway, just to refresh peoples' minds, the Benn Surrender Act was voted through by parliament in order, it is claimed, to stop a no deal Brexit.
What it does, is forces Boris Johnson to send a letter to the EU Council against his will and against his own government policy, to extend the Article 50 process.
Now, what the Act does, by stipulating that the prime Minister sends the letter, is make Boris Johnson the UK representative for this exercise.
It is there in statute law, the PM, Boris Johnson, must send the letter so is our authorised representative by being both the head of government and having the force of this statutory law behind him.
Now, those that drafted and enacted this legislation, that is the UK parliament, are 100% aware that Boris Johnson does not want to send this letter - after all he said he would rather be dead in a ditch than send it and has regularly made it quite clear that it is neither his, nor his government's, policy to do so.
In response to this Boris Johnson has been threatened with legal action, contempt of court proceedings and even imprisonment by his opponents, if he does not comply with the requirements of the Benn Act.
The Court of Session in Edinburgh even has a case against him left open to take action should he refuse to send that letter.
Now, you only have to listen to those making those threats to understand they are not idle threats - these people mean to follow through on these threats with everything they've got.
So, what that amounts to, is the UK representative for these Article 50 so called negotiations, Boris Johnson, is being coerced personally by threats to follow a particular course of action, against his will, that would bind the UK to the EU treaties for a further period of time.
Now I will read to you what Article 51 of the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties says. This Convention, to which the UK signed up to on the 25th of June 1971, is called the Treaty on Treaties. And I would urge you to listen and read this Article a couple of times.
"Article 51. COERCION OF A REPRESENTATIVE OF A STATE
The expression of a State's consent to be bound by a treaty which has been procured by the coercion of its representative through acts or threats directed against him shall be without any legal effect."
So, by using threats against Boris to force him to be the UK representative to not only send the letter but to also comply with any response in a prescribed manner, that is to express the UK's consent to be bound further by EU treaties, under the duress of threats directed against him personally, means to me that the Benn Surrender Act should be without legal effect, zero, null, nil, sweet FA.
Now, I understand that the EU itself is not a signatory to this convention, but many EU member states are, with notable exceptions. But the UK is a signatory, so this convention must surely apply?
But what really concerns me, is why hasn't anyone else brought this point up?
#Brexit
#ViennaConventionOnTreaties
#BorisJohnson
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