Boris Johnson's Brexit strategy risks turning UK into a 'dictatorship', warns ex-supreme court judge
Lord David Edmond Neuberger (pictured above) was the former president of the supreme court of the United Kingdom - Credit: PA
The government's Brexit strategy threatens to drive the UK down a "very slippery slope" towards "dictatorship" or "tyranny", one former supreme court judge has warned.
Ex supreme court president Lord Neuberger condemned Boris Johnson's internal market bill during a seminar with legal professionals.
He told lawyers on Wednesday that "Once you deprive people of the right to go to court to challenge the government, you are in a dictatorship, you are in a tyranny.
"The right of litigants to go to court to protect their rights and ensure that the government complies with its legal obligation is fundamental to any system … You could be going down a very slippery slope."
Lord Neuberger's comment came as the Scottish parliament overwhelmingly voted against the internal market bill.
You may also want to watch:
The vote is unlikely to sink the bill but does show that Holyrood politicians "explicitly" reject the legislation.
The panel, organised by the International Bar Association, included former home secretary and Conservative party leader Michael Howard, the former attorney general Dominic Grieve QC, the SNP justice spokesperson Joanna Cherry QC, Helena Kennedy QC and Jessica Simor QC.
Most Read
- 1 The Spanish village with the mythical blue lagoon
- 2 Empty shelves are partly down to Brexit - but Leavers won't admit it
- 3 Rabbits defeat French army
- 4 Would Javid have renamed ICU wards 'Drama Queen Zones'?
- 5 Party politics will not save us from the Tories - we need drastic action
- 6 Has something shifted in sado-populist Britain?
- 7 Ed Vaizey overtakes Paul Dacre in the Ofcom race
- 8 Priti Patel - the poster girl for our poisonous politics
- 9 Boris Johnson: The sado-populist prime minister
- 10 Cost of Brexit is already 38 times more than the money set aside for levelling up
The panellists hoped the bill would be be defeated in parliament, rather than reaching the courts.
Cheery feared Holyrood would sue to the UK government if the bill ended up before the courts.
Lord Neuberger warned the hearing would "put the judges in a position where they are on a collision course with the government or are seen to be craven … [But] you have to sort out problems in court, if you don’t you have a civil war."
Lord Howard said he opposed the controversial elements of the bill that threatened to break international law.
"I hope this bill is defeated in parliament not in the courts," he said.
Grieve, the UK's former attorney general, said the laws contained an "ouster clause which goes to the heart of parliamentary democracy."
Rather than Brexit being “an assertion of sovereignty,” Grieve added, “it constitutes its undermining”.
Become a Supporter
The New European is proud of its journalism and we hope you are proud of it too. We believe our voice is important - both in representing the pro-EU perspective and also to help rebalance the right wing extremes of much of the UK national press. If you value what we are doing, you can help us by making a contribution to the cost of our journalism.
