On June 6th last year in a statement published by Nigel Adams about Brexit he said, “The EU is fast becoming a European State, where Britain has to obey directives and regulations that British people have never voted for and never would". (HERE)
But since we live in a representative democracy the British people have never voted directly for any law, British or European; EU directives and regulations are made in virtually the same way as British laws. We vote for representatives and they vote on the laws we have to obey. The EU cannot pass any directive, regulation or decision without it being approved by the Council of Ministers and the European Parliament, both bodies containing democratically elected British ministers and MEPs as well as those from other member states.
He also uses the politician’s usual sleight of hand. The “British people” is not one homogeneous group with a single opinion. Even if we were able to vote on an EU law, not everyone would agree a single position; a significant minority would always be disappointed. What he really means I assume is that EU laws should not be passed unless a majority in parliament agrees, but all directives are implemented through the House of Commons in any case. Regulations apply directly to us without a parliamentary vote but I cannot recall the House ever passing a resolution against one.
I think what Mr Adams is getting at is that some legislation is passed that the UK government does not always approve of or fully support. This only applies in the areas where qualified majority voting is used; otherwise we could just veto anything we didn’t like. This is the nub of the issue for Brexiteers, they do not always get their own way. But as Ken Clarke once said it is hard to think of any laws that British ministers have voted against; there are in fact surprisingly few. But in any case, surely this is what democracy is about. Sometimes you have to accept the majority view - which is what leavers now ask remainers to do.
Brexiteers seem to fundamentally misunderstand democracy. They seem to think it means getting your own way on everything all of the time. It doesn't.
A bit of light reading, EU laws are decided by what is known as the Ordinary Legislative Procedure which is explained HERE. The difference between Directives, regulations, opinions, decisions, etc is HERE.
