Stuart Wheeler loses his High Court battle for a referendum

Verity

How can they complete ratification of something that doesn't exist?

The Irish vote killed it.

Didn't it?

Oh! Silly me! What is it about the continent of Europe which causes them to love dictators?

cuffleyburgers

The only way to make these bastards listen is to hit the streets.

As violently as possible.

This is a disgusting sell out; to see the likes of Reichminister Denis MacSHane smugging around on telly makes me want to thump his fat head.

I deplore myself even as I rage impotently - violence is the only alternative they have left open.

So come on Wheeler, forget enriching lawyers, how about some AK47s?

How typical of this government that 70% of the cost of a molotov cocktail is tax (plus the refund on the bottle).

David Boothroyd

Stuart Wheeler didn't just lose his case. His case was comprehensively refuted on every single point. I counted eight different grounds on which the High Court rejected the action, all of which would have been fatal individually even if all the others had been agreed. Not surprisingly he was also refused permission to appeal.

There can be no possible objection, either legal or political, to the UK government depositing the instrument of ratification without delay.

adrian drummond

As with the Hutton Enquiry, the legal establishment has once again sided with Government.

I suspect that Lord Justice Richards simply lacked the strength of character to make an independant decision that would have had undoubted constitutional consequences.

This was a politics dressed up as law.

Cogito Ergosum

A good decision by the judges. Counsel for HMG was perfectly right in describing the suit as "politics dressed as law".

Stuart Wheeler can be compared with Mohammed Fayed: they are rich men who think they can get their own way by hiring lawyers.

So this Coffee Houser does not support a Wheeler appeal.

cuffleyburgers

Cogito old bean

There is a substantive difference between an old conspiracy theorist raking over the ashes of an admittedly tragic but essentially personal event, and someone fighting to prevent the government signing away irrevocably substantial amounts of sovereignty against the wishes of the populace, having previously promised not to, and having been elected promising at least the opportunity to vote on this specific subject.

You are of course entitled to your opinion as we all are, for the moment, but you are wrong.

One comment in particular from the judgement stands out particularly, to the effect that "the case raised important and interesting legal issues, but it would take too long to deal with them".

Given that ratification at European level won't take place until at least the beginning of the next year with Czech republic and Poland (good for them) giving the treaty due scrutiny with regard to their constitutions, as is Germany, so the rush is hard to understand.

Adrian Drummond has it right. Lack of moral fibre in the judiciary.

THX1138

Trying to buy the political system stinks I for one am glad he lost.

The Speecie just wants to suck up to a big Tory Donor

adrian drummond

D Boothroyd

I read the judgement too - it was highly subjective.

Just like Hutton, they (the Judges) gave to much credence to ministerial honesty and have come down on the side of the Establishment.

So much for judicial independence.

Herbert Thornton

Can we please be given details of the opinion handed down by the dissenting judge?

adrian drummond

To Herbert

Here is the judgment...

http://www.stuartwheeler.co.uk/Judgment.pdf

You may like to bear in mind that Lord Justice Richards, who was a First Junior Treasury Counsel (he represented Her Majesty's Government in the civil courts) before he became a Judge, would consider it difficult (unless made of sterner stuff) to find against his old employer.

Cogito Ergosum

Reply to cuffleyburgers.

The judgement was not about the merits of whether Lisbon was a Good Thing, but about the right of HMG to take a decision. They had as much right to oppose Wheeler as they did to oppose Fayed.

There is far too much muddle-headed thinking about legal issues, induced by sentiment rather than logic.

LS

"There can be no possible objection, either legal or political, to the UK government depositing the instrument of ratification without delay."

Except that there's nothing to ratify.