Matthew Elliot was Chief Executive of the Vote Leave campaign and one of the 'masterminds' of the looming disaster that is Brexit. Apart from complaining about the Electoral Commission levying fines of £61,000 against Vote Leave for breaking electoral law he has been remarkably low key - and who can blame him, the nation is being torn apart by his pet project. He has however, now written a piece (HERE) for CityAM, an on-line version of a free daily business paper for London.
His article is titled: With just a dash of flexibility, the Brexit endgame is in sight.
Not noted for his lack of chutzpah, Elliot's idea of 'dash of flexibility' is this:
"In contrast, if the Brady amendment is approved, the EU should recall the flexibility shown towards Denmark in the early 1990s, when the Maastricht Treaty was defeated in a referendum by 50.7 per cent of voters. In response, the EU added a legally binding protocol onto the Treaty to reassure Danes on a variety of subjects. The Treaty then passed by 56.8 per cent.
"The EU should follow suit on the Irish backstop".
In other words he wants the EU to treat the UK, which opted to leave the EU in a referendum, the same as a member state. But let's look at the 'legally binding protocols', essentially opt-outs, that Denmark obtained (HERE):
"The opt-outs are outlined in the Edinburgh Agreement and concern the EMU (as above), the Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP), Justice and Home Affairs (JHA) and the citizenship of the European Union. With these opt-outs the Danish people accepted the treaty in a second referendum held in 1993".
The opt-outs did not offer legal text that negated or made void the original legally binding text which is what Elliot wants. It isn't possible to sign a document committing you to certain actions in certain circumstances and then get a protocol that absolves you from the same commitments. This would be essentially the same as removing the original text, tantamount to getting rid of the backstop altogether.
And bear in mind Maastricht was a multi-lateral treaty affecting many countries in many ways. The Withdrawal Agreement is a bilateral treaty between the UK and the EU with the Irish backstop one of the main pillars.
It seems this lunchtime, the PM is going to go to Brussels and 'demand' the negotiations are reopened. The Brexiteers are said to be behind the prime minister and will support an amendment 'empowering' her to just that.
We shall see.
It seems this lunchtime, the PM is going to go to Brussels and 'demand' the negotiations are reopened. The Brexiteers are said to be behind the prime minister and will support an amendment 'empowering' her to just that.
We shall see.
