The Benn Act - is it Humbug?

There has recently been a lot of talk about the Benn Act.  The European Union (Withdrawal) (No. 2) Act 2019 requires the Prime Minister to ask the EU for an extension to article 50 by 19^th of October 2019 if no deal is reached with the EU by then.

The question is …will Boris obey the law or find a way to circumvent it?  Or is that actually the question?

Well, let’s put it this way… It is true that the Government’s Sovereignty comes from Parliament.  But does that make it okay for Parliament to effectively legislate against the Government?  This is a very unusual step indeed.  The normal protocol for the opposition in this situation would be to force a vote of no confidence in the government and either form their own temporary government or call a General Election.  It isn’t as if the arithmetic in the Commons is stopping the opposition forming an alternative government.  All that is stopping the opposition parties forming an alternative government is their dislike of each other.  

The situation of Parliament telling the Government what governmental decisions to make seems to me to be questionable.  If the PM does not have the confidence of the House the House should remove him or the government should remove its self and this is what used to happen before the Fixed Term Parliaments Acts.

So there is a lot of talk about it being illegal to violate the Benn Act … but is the Benn Act its self legal?   

It is highly unusual to have a law that singles out one person (the Prime Minister) and then tells him what to do.  Okay the bill could apply to anyone who was Prime Minister but since there is only one Prime Minister at a time it’s very much personally aimed at Boris.  This raises the question could Boris himself take Parliament to Judicial Review...? claiming perhaps that a law telling him personally what to do is a human rights abuse?   

Judges are not allowed to overturn primary legislation but they could issue a Declaration of incompatibility with the European Convention of Human Rights under the Human Rights Act 1998 section 4.  Of course Boris probably wants to abolish the European Convention of Human Rights but shouldn’t we be better than Boris?

Anyway, it’s all nonsense… the only way to prevent a hard Brexit is for the opposition parties to put aside their differences and form a government…  Trying to tell the executive what to do by legislating against it is, if not unconstitutional (which it may be), … at the very least a very long winded and silly way to run a country.  Still that’s the Fixed Term Parliament Act for you…