Britain urged to ‘unilaterally declare independence’ from Europe
Britain can make a "unilateral declaration of independence" from the EU by giving British courts legal primacy, an influential think tank has suggested.
Civitas director David Green demanded MPs amend the 1972 European Communities Act to enshrine in law the superiority of the Supreme Court over the EU Court of Justice.
The move would allow Britain to unpick unwanted EU laws one-by-one and challenge Brussels to "do its worst" in return.
The tactic provides a 'third-way' for eurosceptics which would allow them to gradually pull back from the European project without proposing a revolutionary in-or-out change which could have far-reaching economic consequences.
"Henceforward, laws passed by parliament would be superior to any EU laws," Green said.
"This would amount to a unilateral declaration of independence, but would not imply immediate renegotiation of every law and regulation. We could take our time and go through the numerous unwanted laws one by one."
Green pointed out that Germany and France have previously ignored EU legislation, such as budget and debt requirements and the enforcement of privatisation in the train service.
"Because of their importance to the EU project, nothing was done. We should follow their example and challenge the EU to do its worst," he said.
"It is tragic to watch the free people of Britain, who historically led the way in establishing modern freedom and democracy, absent-mindedly give up their powers of self-government.
"The EU makes occasional concessions to democracy here and there, but the primary thrust of the EU project from the outset has been to centralise power in the hands of rulers who have as free a hand as they can get away with.
"We need to restore parliamentary sovereignty, which means we should restore the authority of the majority of the British people acting through parliament."
