In this week’s Spectator, Martin Howe QC gives the legal verdict on Theresa May’s Brexit deal, and finds: ‘This is not a bad deal. It is an atrocious deal.’ His analysis was so widely circulated amongst MPs that No. 10 has written a response to it.
For more on Theresa May’s bad deal, here’s Mr Steerpike’s list of the top 40 horrors lurking in it.
Claim
Once the Protocol is in force, the UK cannot leave it except by ‘joint’ decision of the UK and the EU. This gives the EU a right of veto over the UK’s exit. In agreeing to this clause, the government has caved in over seeking a right to leave.
Response
The Protocol is explicit in the legal text that it is intended to be a temporary arrangement. The Withdrawal Agreement establishes a binding obligation on both the UK and the EU to use their best endeavours to agree a future relationship which would supersede the backstop by December 2020.
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