Northern Irish 'no-deal' Brexit challenge dismissed in court

[webfact]

Northern Irish 'no-deal' Brexit challenge dismissed in court

By Amanda Ferguson

 

A woman wearing an Irish flag and a man wearing an EU flag demonstrate in front of the parliament at Westminster, in London, Britain, September 4, 2019. REUTERS/Hannah McKay

 

BELFAST (Reuters) - Belfast's High Court dismissed on Thursday a case arguing that a British exit from the European Union without a withdrawal agreement would contravene Northern Ireland's 1998 peace accord, saying the issue was political and not for the courts.

 

The case is one of a series across the United Kingdom challenging Prime Minister's Boris Johnson's Brexit strategy. Johnson has said Britain must leave the EU on Oct. 31, whether or not it secures a deal on an orderly exit.

 

Scotland's highest court of appeal ruled on Wednesday that Johnson's decision to prorogue, or suspend, parliament for five weeks was unlawful and should be annulled, a verdict that will be appealed at the UK's Supreme Court next week.

 

Rights campaigner Raymond McCord, one of three people backing the Northern Ireland case, said he would seek to join the other challenges before the UK's highest court, including on the issue of prorogation.

 

Lawyers for McCord had argued that a no-deal Brexit would breach the 1998 Good Friday Agreement that brought peace to the British-run province, but Judge Bernard McCloskey said the case "trespassed upon the prohibited domain of the non-justiciable".

 

"I consider the characterisation of the subject matter of these proceedings as inherently and unmistakably political to be beyond plausible dispute," McCloskey said in a 68-page written judgement.

 

"Virtually all of the assembled evidence belongs to the world of politics, both national and supra-national."

 

Parliament was prorogued on Monday until Oct. 14, a move opponents argued was designed to allow the prime minister to push through a no-deal exit from the European Union on Oct. 31 with little scrutiny.

 

Belfast's Court of Appeal, the next step in the province's justice system, had agreed to hear brief arguments from McCord's lawyers on prorogation on Friday as well as the no-deal case challenge on Monday.

 

However, McCord said on Thursday that he was hoping to go straight to the UK Supreme Court on prorogation while continuing with the no-deal appeal, which he hoped will ultimately will also end up being referred to London along with other cases.

 

"This will hopefully ensure my case is heard and Northern Ireland has a voice and representation alongside the rest of the UK in the Supreme Court," McCord told Reuters by email.

 

McCord's son was murdered by pro-British militants in 1997, just before the peace deal, which largely ended three decades of violence between Irish nationalists seeking a united Ireland and pro-British unionists. Some 3,600 people died in the conflict.

 

(Reporting by Amanda Ferguson, writing by Padraic Halpin; Editing by Gareth Jones, Rosalba O'Brien and Sonya Hepinstall)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2019-09-13

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[sawadee1947]

I'm afraid the peace will end with a Brexit. ????

[Laughing Gravy]

The pesky remainers will try anything to prevent Brexit, Well done the law fore seeing common sense. Where are all those posters from last week telling everyone that the law will prevent this and Scotland, England and Ireland will prevent this.

 

I guess the must be wiping all that egg of their faces.

 

 

[JAG]

1 hour ago, sawadee1947 said:

I'm afraid the peace will end with a Brexit. ????

The peace will end if and when the terrorists decide to end it. Frankly neither the UK leaving or remaining in the EU, nor any consequences: real, imagined or manufactured will change that. If they can find an excuse to dig up the cached weapons and go back to bombing and shooting they will. North and South of any border.

 

I suppose that if we remain, and it does kick off again in a few years time, it will be troops from the EU army that will be deployed. Good luck with that one!

[katana]

They'll probably keep appealing it until they get the result they want. A bit like the leave referendum result.

[JAG]

5 minutes ago, katana said:

They'll probably keep appealing it until they get the result they want. A bit like the leave referendum result.

Surely, if they don't like the courts decision, they will treat it as only advisory?

[Baerboxer]

6 hours ago, Laughing Gravy said:

The pesky remainers will try anything to prevent Brexit, Well done the law fore seeing common sense. Where are all those posters from last week telling everyone that the law will prevent this and Scotland, England and Ireland will prevent this.

 

I guess the must be wiping all that egg of their faces.

 

 

 

The NI court found the same as the English Court. The Scottish court found differently but stopped short of ordering parliament to repeal the suspension. All have noted that an appeal can, and indeed has, been made to the Supreme Court.

 

We await their ruling next week.

[Baerboxer]

4 hours ago, JAG said:

Surely, if they don't like the courts decision, they will treat it as only advisory?

 

Ah, your knowledge of the justice systems is almost equal to your knowledge of parliamentary process.

 

There is no further appeal after the Supreme Court. The clue is in the court's name.

 

ps. I wouldn't rely on claiming you thought the court's decision was advisory as a defense strategy in the UK!

[Baerboxer]

4 hours ago, JAG said:

The peace will end if and when the terrorists decide to end it. Frankly neither the UK leaving or remaining in the EU, nor any consequences: real, imagined or manufactured will change that. If they can find an excuse to dig up the cached weapons and go back to bombing and shooting they will. North and South of any border.

 

I suppose that if we remain, and it does kick off again in a few years time, it will be troops from the EU army that will be deployed. Good luck with that one!

 

What a nightmare. 

 

Dutch peace keepers in Ireland!

[stevenl]

31 minutes ago, Baerboxer said:

 

What a nightmare. 

 

Dutch peace keepers in Ireland!

Yes, all wearing orange camouflage.

[Laughing Gravy]

1 hour ago, Baerboxer said:

 

The NI court found the same as the English Court. The Scottish court found differently but stopped short of ordering parliament to repeal the suspension. All have noted that an appeal can, and indeed has, been made to the Supreme Court.

 

We await their ruling next week.

It clearly shows that who knows what is happening with the courts but the fact remains, people want to stop Brexit happening. Indisputable. 

[JAG]

1 hour ago, Baerboxer said:

 

Ah, your knowledge of the justice systems is almost equal to your knowledge of parliamentary process.

 

There is no further appeal after the Supreme Court. The clue is in the court's name.

 

ps. I wouldn't rely on claiming you thought the court's decision was advisory as a defense strategy in the UK!

Umh. it was sarcasm...

 

[billd766]

8 hours ago, sawadee1947 said:

I'm afraid the peace will end with a Brexit. ????

Why would it end?

[cleopatra2]

1 hour ago, Baerboxer said:

 

The NI court found the same as the English Court. The Scottish court found differently but stopped short of ordering parliament to repeal the suspension. All have noted that an appeal can, and indeed has, been made to the Supreme Court.

 

We await their ruling next week.

The NI court did not rule on the prorugation. Instead they left it to the SC

[sawadee1947]

16 hours ago, billd766 said:

Why would it end?

Because there will be a kind of border. It's avoidable if the border would be in the Irish Sea or if Ireland would throw off the chains and will be reunited as part of EU. 

[sandyf]

18 hours ago, Baerboxer said:

 

There is no further appeal after the Supreme Court. The clue is in the court's name.

That would certainly be the case in national law. The ECJ has primacy in matters relating to a member states constitution so it may depend on how the case is perceived.

The reason for dismissal, ie political, may well end up as grounds for the case to go to the ECJ.

[sandyf]

17 hours ago, billd766 said:

Why would it end?

There are already issues with the new IRA Bill, brexit may well be used as an excuse to escalate matters.

 

Dissident republicans planned to fire the mortar bomb found in Strabane, Co Tyrone on Saturday into the town’s police station, the area’s police chief has said.The Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) district commander, Superintendent Gordon McCalmont, said his assessment was that the New IRA was responsible.

https://www.irishtimes.com/news/crime-and-law/psni-blames-new-ira-after-mortar-bomb-found-in-strabane-1.4012370

 

[billd766]

3 hours ago, sandyf said:

There are already issues with the new IRA Bill, brexit may well be used as an excuse to escalate matters.

 

Dissident republicans planned to fire the mortar bomb found in Strabane, Co Tyrone on Saturday into the town’s police station, the area’s police chief has said.The Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) district commander, Superintendent Gordon McCalmont, said his assessment was that the New IRA was responsible.

https://www.irishtimes.com/news/crime-and-law/psni-blames-new-ira-after-mortar-bomb-found-in-strabane-1.4012370

 

Thanks for that link Sandy. I have to admit that I have put NI on my don't bother to think about list, simply because I only spent 5 days there in 1988 doing a job for Vodafone.

 

Looking at what is happening there its seems as though the New IRA will ignore the Good Friday agreement (as they were not involved in it) if it suits their purposes whether there is a back stop there or not.

[Sir Dude]

This court's decision is wise as it is indeed a political issue and not a law one. If political decisions start ending up in courts regularly then the courts will end up governing and not to mention the paralysis that will also ensue. The courts should not be weaponized as something to counter elected governments deciding things ... governments need to be free to govern. Don't like it, then vote them out at a GE and reverse things. People are now so far up their own backsides that they have lost the plot.  

[sandyf]

16 hours ago, billd766 said:

Thanks for that link Sandy. I have to admit that I have put NI on my don't bother to think about list, simply because I only spent 5 days there in 1988 doing a job for Vodafone.

 

Looking at what is happening there its seems as though the New IRA will ignore the Good Friday agreement (as they were not involved in it) if it suits their purposes whether there is a back stop there or not.

Quite. I have a friend that lives in Belfast and in regular contact, he will be over end of next month.

He says there is also quite a bit of tension with the hard line Unionists over brexit. He is a nationalist and would like to see reunification but a bit apprehensive over the consequences.

[sandyf]

14 hours ago, Sir Dude said:

This court's decision is wise as it is indeed a political issue and not a law one. If political decisions start ending up in courts regularly then the courts will end up governing and not to mention the paralysis that will also ensue. The courts should not be weaponized as something to counter elected governments deciding things ... governments need to be free to govern. Don't like it, then vote them out at a GE and reverse things. People are now so far up their own backsides that they have lost the plot.  

The government is regularly taken to court, anything the government does is political, obviously you believe that the Gina Miller case should have been dismissed and the PM allowed to bypass parliament.

Absolutely delusional, general elections do not resolve the problems of the here and now. The government is not always right.

 

In January, Amber Rudd promised to take a fresh approach to Universal Credit and so we had hoped she would listen and address our clients’ concerns but she refused to and insisted on wasting more public money fighting this case in the courts. It is high time that the Government pauses to make a real, concerted effort to remedy the failings of Universal Credit, and ensure it is fit for purpose and fair to all before it is rolled out any further.”

https://www.leighday.co.uk/News/2019/May-2019/Government-defeated-again-as-High-Court-finds-atte

[Sir Dude]

On 9/15/2019 at 10:58 AM, sandyf said:

The government is regularly taken to court, anything the government does is political, obviously you believe that the Gina Miller case should have been dismissed and the PM allowed to bypass parliament.

Absolutely delusional, general elections do not resolve the problems of the here and now. The government is not always right.

 

Nice rant. Gina Miller is an belligerent attention seeker that has no claim to legitimacy and struts about as if she has some sort of mandate from the public and I'll leave that one there. Nothing wrong with proroguing parliament as many have done it before, including Major to push through the Maastricht Treaty. True, the government is not always right but neither are everyone who are continually offended so easily about the slightest thing. As for a GE, that is exactly what the UK needs right now but the lefty fascists deem us not worthy of having one ... couldn't make it up.