The word “betrayal” was part of the lexicon used yesterday by former Conservative MP Sir Bill Cash in the pages of The Sunday Telegraph, to reject the dissolution of the so-called European Control Committee, which until last Tuesday comprised the two chambers of the British Parliament.
Cash, who retired from active politics last May, said in his article that “a Starmer government cannot be trusted,” referring to the new Labour prime minister.
“He described the result of the 2016 democratic referendum as ‘catastrophic’ and subsequently pushed for a second vote,” Cash said, referring to the position of the current occupant of Number 10 Downing Street. “Now, on Tuesday, the European Scrutiny Committee, which I chaired for 14 years and served on for 39 years, was abolished in a one-line government motion without a formal statement or explanation – and on the last day before the summer recess,” Cash said.
The Committee’s creation dates back to 1973, when Britain joined the European Economic Community. It was seen as “the embodiment of parliamentary scrutiny and sovereignty, creating a vigilant and competent select committee to monitor, investigate and report with Members from all sides of the House to follow up on issues of vital national interest with regard to the EU and the impact of legislative proposals from Brussels and the Council of Ministers.”
From that committee, during his presidency, Cash was deeply sceptical both about the process of disconnection from the European Union after Brexit, and about the negotiations that are still taking place between London and Brussels for the future status of the Rock: «The committee has been chaired alternately by members of the Labour and Conservative parties since 1973. Even Stella Creasey, a respected Labour MP, made her concerns clear: «I think it is understandable that people wonder: where will this conversation take place? And I would like to be part of that conversation», highlighting «democratic scrutiny and accountability». The essence of Parliament is scrutiny and accountability, and this has been devastated by the abolition of this committee. The voters of the United Kingdom, who have only just regained their self-government after the 2016 referendum supported by the Brexit general election of 2019, followed by the approval of legislation by the Conservative government guaranteeing the sovereignty of Parliament, will be affected. All this has now been put into play without adequate means to examine how the UK will be adversely affected by EU legislative measures.
Cash defended the role of the European Scrutiny Committee, including over the past two years, “which, in the absence of an initiative from the Defence Committee, examined the implications of the EU’s Permanent Structured Cooperation (Pesco) and its associated defence issues.”
In his view, the committee played a leading role in investigating and analysing “the serious constitutional problems facing Northern Ireland under the Windsor Framework; the ongoing negotiations on Gibraltar, including the dangers to UK and NATO defences; the issue of immigration, much of which remains in EU derivative legislation that currently adversely affects our competitiveness, business, trade and the City of London, and must be repealed or repealed as provided for by the retained EU Law Bill itself, if we are to achieve the levels of growth and productivity the Government claims to seek.”
